Richard Okai, a 26-year-old mobile money sales boy, has been accused of stealing about GH¢ 1,385,910.3.

His case is before an Adentan Circuit Court, but the court is waiting for the Attorney General's (AG’s) advice on what to do next.

He was first brought to court on March 7, 2024, where he pleaded not guilty to six charges of stealing various amounts. The presiding judge was Angela Attachie.

His charges included: count one; GH¢ 94, 596.30, count two; GH¢ 451, 048.60, count three; GH¢ 460, 983, count four; GH¢ 169,888.50, count five; GH¢ 129, 433 and count six; GH¢ 79, 961.

Last Tuesday, April 23, 2024, there was another hearing, but this time before a different judge, Nana Aba Quaiba Nunoo, who is sitting in as a relief judge. The case has been adjourned to April 29, 2024, for AG’s direction.

Brief facts

The prosecutor, Chief Inspector Maxwell Lanyo, presented the case before the court. According to him, the complainant who lives in Kissieman near Achimota, Accra, owns a large cosmetic shop called Lilyna Enterprise at the Madina Market.

He added that the accused, Okai, also known as Kobby, is a salesboy who lives at UN, a suburb of Madina.

The accused is said to be responsible for mobile money transactions at Lilyna Enterprise, thus collecting monies from customers and depositing them into the company's merchant account.

The prosecutor said because the complainant trusted him, she did not feel the need to check if he was handling the mobile money correctly.

 “On February 20, 2024, at about 10 a.m., some customers were paying through mobile money when Naa Mayley, the complainant's daughter and a witness in this case, noticed Richard acting suspiciously,” C/Insp Lanyo added.

Naa Mayley then took the company's mobile phone from him and discovered that he had transferred GH¢1,697 from the company's account to his personal mobile money account.

This led her to immediately inform her mother, and together they checked Richard's phone, finding many transfers from the company's account to his own.

 The prosecutor added that they reported the incident to the police, leading to Okai’s arrest where he admitted to the crime during his questioning.

The police also requested a statement from MTN regarding Okai’s accounts, which showed that from December 2022 to February 2023, he had embezzled GH¢159,315.5, from August 2023 to December 2023, he had embezzled, GH¢463,489.6, and from January to February 2024, he had stolen GH¢87,098.5 This added up to a total of GH¢709,903.6.

Further investigations also showed that Okai had used some of the stolen money to purchase land in Akatanmaso in Accra and deposited GH¢7,000 in his Fidelity Bank account, kept GH¢3,000 in his mobile money account, and spent some money on gambling.

After the investigation, he was charged with theft and brought before the court.