The Statesman newspaper on Monday reported that a former accountant of Winners Chapel Ghana, Daniel Opoku, is alleged to have embezzled at least GHc 11,200 from Heritage Academy, a school belonging to and run by the church, as well as several thousands of cedis pilfered from church coffers, usually after church service, when the offertory had not been properly sorted and counted. The act, according to the paper, is much against admonitions of the Biblical Ten Commandments against covetousness. In separate operations, Opoku is alleged to have forged the signature of the head of the church, Bishop George Agyeman, and that of his Associate Pastor, Maxwell Tweneboa-Kodua, to withdraw GHc15,000 from the church's account at Prudential Bank. That incident is still under investigation. Again, Daniel Opoku, who is also the General Manager of Daniops Limited, a marketing firm, is alleged to have embezzled some undisclosed amounts of offertory or collection, and, allegedly, with the help of others, diverted funds from the school into their personal accounts. The accountant is further alleged to have created an unsigned copy of the auditor's report that uncovered his alleged crimes, changing the figures in the report to indict Cyril Doko, whose name is also mentioned in the report. The Statesman says it has laid hands on signed original copies of the auditor's report, and that whole columns are missing from the Opoku document, with most figures manipulated to cast a greater burden on Cyril Doko. According to the paper, while a copy of the report the accused sent to its offices is dated May 7, 2008 and printed on ordinary A-4 sheets, the date on the original document is March 3, 2008. The original version is on the letter head of Dhekhab Associates, Chartered Accountants and Management Consultants. The Statesman said a source close to the church has hinted that funds suspected to have been pilfered directly from the offertory box after normal church service could be over GHc 2 million (2 billion cedis). Source: The Statesman