The Attorney General’s Office has vowed to do all within its power to bring Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu, a former CEO of MASLOC (Microfinance and Small Loans Centre), back to Ghana to face justice.
The former NDC appointee who is currently outside the country reportedly on medical grounds was on Wednesday, April 16, 2024, handed a ten-year jail term with hard labour in absentia.
She was sentenced together with the former Chief Operating Officer of MASLOC, Daniel Axim, who is to spend five years behind bars with hard labour.
They were both found guilty on 78 counts of causing financial loss to the state, stealing, conspiracy to steal, money laundering, and causing loss to public property in contravention of the public procurement law.
Speaking to the media shortly after the sentencing, a Deputy Attorney General, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah said the process of extraditing Attionu has already commenced.
“We started the process, and with the judgment that is going to speed up the process. Ghana, we have various laws, you can stay away….rest assured that she will be brought down to face judgment.”
In 2019, the state initiated prosecution against the pair on various charges. Sedina Tamakloe was tried in absentia as she fled after receiving permission from the Accra High Court for a medical checkup abroad.
Six witnesses were called by the state. They alleged that the defendants embezzled GH¢3.19 million during their time at MASLOC, causing a deliberate financial loss of GH¢1.97 million to the state. They were also accused of making unauthorized commitments, leading to government financial obligations totalling GH¢61.74 million.
The charges included GH¢22.15 million in public property loss, improper payment of GH¢273,743, and laundering of GH¢3.7 million.
In a significant turn, the court allowed the trial to proceed without Attionu on February 24, 2023, as she failed to return from a permitted medical trip to the United States in 2021.
Before the trial in absentia, on January 24, 2023, the court ordered former GNPC CEO Alex Mould and actor Gavivina Tamakloe to pay a GH¢5 million bail bond due to their failure to produce Attionu, for whom they acted as sureties.
According to the prosecution, an investigation by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) in 2017 revealed fraudulent disbursements of MASLOC funds involving Attionu and Axim.
It was found that MASLOC invested GH¢150,000 in Obaatanpa Micro-Finance Company Limited in June 2014. Attionu then offered an additional GH¢500,000 investment, resulting in MASLOC issuing a GH¢500,000 ADB cheque to Obaatanpa on July 24, 2014.
Attionu allegedly demanded a 24% interest rate from Obaatanpa upon receiving the cheque. When Obaatanpa refused, Attionu demanded a cash refund. Obaatanpa complied, returning GH¢500,000 in cash to Attionu on August 28, 2014.
Despite acknowledging receipt in a letter dated August 28, 2014, MASLOC had no record of the repayment, allegedly indicating Attionu’s personal use of the GH¢500,000.
Furthermore, in 2015, MASLOC demanded interest payments despite the earlier refund. Subsequent investigations revealed discrepancies, suggesting Attionu’s misappropriation of funds.
