An Accra Circuit Court has sentenced a banker to two years imprisonment with hard labour for stealing ¢499,022.10 belonging to the CAL Bank Limited.   

Leslie Afotey, after stealing the money in 2018, refunded ¢128,022.10 out of ¢160,000 he won from betting.   

He pleaded not guilty to the charge of stealing but the court, presided over by Evelyn Asamoah, found him guilty at the end of the trial.   

Chief Inspector Emmanuel Haligah said the complainant was an Internal Audit staff at the Head Office of CAL Bank Limited, Accra, whiles Mr Afotey was a bulk cash teller with the Spintex branch of the Bank.   

Prosecution said Mr Afotey’s task was to go out with a bullion van and a driver to the Bank’s customers at various locations to collect daily savings.   

He said Mr Afotey was also mandated to take the money to the Bank and deposit it into an account.   

Chief Inspector Haligah said as a control measure, the Bank audited its accounts and the staff before the close of every year.   

He said in December 2018, the Bank audited an account in which the convict had been depositing monies collected from customers.   

An amount of ¢499,022.10 was detected unaccounted for and when Mr Afotey heard about the auditing, he quickly stopped his daily rounds and returned to the office, the prosecution said.   

When officials from the Bank’s Head Office decided to find out why the money was not in the account, Mr Afotey bolted.   

A report was made to the Police at Osu on December 28, 2018, after which Mr Afotey was arrested.   

He admitted the offense during interrogation and pleaded that he should be given a month to refund the money.