Former Chief Executive Officer of  Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Christine Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, allegedly collected a cash sum of GH¢500,000 in a bag at a filling station.

At the Accra High Court Wednesday, the Attorney-General at the beginning of the trial said, the GH¢500,000 was never returned to MASLOC, suggesting that the money was arrogated.

According to a report by the ‘Daily Guide’, the money, which is a refund of an investment made by MASLOC into the Obaatanpa Microfinance Company Limited in 2014, was returned due to a high-interest rate which Obaatanpa did not want to pay.

Samuel Quansah, a board member of Obaatanpa and prosecution witness, said a previous investment made had an interest rate of 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent per month which invited a lot of customers for Obaatanpa.

As a result, they requested for a subsequent investment of GH¢1 million in 2014 but only received half the amount which was GH¢500,000.

However, as opposed to the first investment, this one had a higher interest rate of four per cent leading to the return of the investment to MASLOC.

According to Mr. Quansah, Ms Attionu opted for the refund of the investment to be made in cash saying that most cheques sent to them bounced at the bank.

He stated, the withdrawal of the money from the company’s commercial account, the manager of Obaatanpa, Seth Asiedu Obugyei, informed him that they were to deliver the money to Ms Attionu at Baatsona Total Filling Station on the Spintex road.

According to Mr Quansah, when he, along with Mr Asiedu arrived at the meeting point, a black Nissan Prado which Ms Attionu rode in, parked behind them.

He said that “Mr Asiedu got down and took the money [in ‘Ghana must go bag’] from our car and placed it in that Prado at the back seat and then upon placing the money in the vehicle he also went and sat at the passenger side of the Prado,” he narrated.

The witness continued that: “The driver switched on the inside light and had a conversation with Mr Asiedu for some few minutes before he came back to our car. When they switched on the inside light I looked through my mirror and I saw that it was the CEO of MASLOC.”

Mr Quansah told the court that the money was counted before him, adding that some weeks after the payment was made, he went to  MASLOC and received an acknowledgement letter of the refund from Mrs Attionu’s secretary.