GHS accountant in forgery stealing of over GH¢500,000 to be arraigned before court

A former Accountant at the Buipe Polyclinic in the Central Gonja District of the Savannah Region, Mr. Osman Jamal-Deen who is reported to have forged signatures and stolen over GH¢500,000 cedis from the account of the health facility is due to be arraigned before court.

The Ghana Health Service staff with staff number 749504 reportedly forged the signature of the Medical Superintendent of the facility and issued NIB cheques to the tune of GH¢580,288.17.

It has also been established that the suspect currently on police bail, failed to deposit cash at the Tamale main Branch of the National Investment Bank (NIB) where the account of the facility is.

MyNewsGh.com has confirmed that he is set to appear before a Tamale High Court on May 24, 2021, and provisionally charged with forgery and stealing after series o investigations uncovered that he was culpable in the fraudulent deals that started a little over two years.

The Investigative Desk of MyNewsGh.com that first broke the story has in its possession over 50 NIB forged cheques out of over 100 which are also incorporated in a report by a committee set up by the Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service.

A face value of the numerous cheques reveals a staggering amount of GH¢336,599.17 stolen from the Buipe Internally Generated Drug Account with the Tamale Main Branch of NIB.

It would be recalled that MyNewsGh.com a fortnight ago reported how the Medical Superintendent of the facility detected the crime, reported it to the Regional Director and then got the suspect arrested.

The Ghana Health Service then set up a fact-finding committee that audited the embattled accountant and corroborated findings; followed by a disciplinary committee that was set to take him through disciplinary proceedings.

The Disciplinary Committee also did its work and produced a report in August 2020 a copy of which is possession of MyNewsGh.com. However, both the fact-finding committee report and the disciplinary committee reports were only on shelves gathering dust per our checks until recently.

Investigations reveal that the suspect who has since been transferred to the Regional Health Directorate has paid GHC 35,000.00 out of the GH¢580,288.17 he stole through forged cheques and the rest by undeposited funds.

In some instances, there were even cheques that were honoured with only one signature(his), meanwhile, the Medical Superintendent is the principal account holder.