A 31-year-old Yussif Abubakar, former employee and supervisor of the Hohoe branch of the Star Oil Company has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by Hohoe District Court for misappropriation of funds belonging to the Company.

About two years ago, the Company reported him to the Police after his failure to account for GH¢139,188.00 belonging to the Company and was arrested and charged for stealing.

Abubakar, however, pleaded not guilty, making the case to travel close to two years, but was finally found guilty by the court after the full trial.

Narrating the facts, Prosecution told the court, the convict was an employee and branch Supervisor of the Company at Hohoe.

Prosecution said on November 19, 2019, Mr Setor Alorwu, Public Relations Officer of the Company asked the convict to produce receipts of payment of sales made between November 11 and 19, 2019, but he could not produce them.

This raised suspicions, prosecution said, compelling the Company to report the matter to the Hohoe Police, leading to his detention.

Prosecution said an audit that was subsequently carried out revealed that an amount of GH¢139,118.00 was missing from the sales records of the Company, which took place between November 8 and 19, 2019.

When Abubakar was questioned on the whereabouts of the money, he said he used the money for sports betting, prosecution stated.

Mr Yaw Opoku Acheampong, the trial judge, in pronouncing the sentence said, if not for the remorse the convict showed throughout the trial period, he would have given him a 20-year jail term.