Banker accused of dishonestly appropriating customer’s cash granted bail

The Tarkwa Circuit Court has granted bail to Edmond Nashiru, a 30-year-old banker, facing prosecution over dishonestly appropriating cash belonging to a customer of a commercial bank.  

The bail is in the sum of GH￠50,000, with one surety.

Nashiru has, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.  

Prosecuting Police Chief Inspector Joseph Lartey prayed the Court, presided over by Mrs Hathia Ama Manu, for some extended period to enable them to file their disclosure.

The Court agreed and gave the police two weeks to do the needful.  

The case has, consequently, been adjourned to Tuesday, January 23, 2024. 

Chief Inspector Lartey, earlier, said the complainant, Ms Felicility Acquah, was a rotational nurse resident at New Atuabo, in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality. 

Felicity holds a savings account at the commercial bank at Tarkwa where Nashiru was a front desk officer.  

He said on November 6, 2023, the Tarkwa Police received a complaint from Felicity that she received a series of mobile alerts on her phone on the same day, indicating that her account had been debited with a total amount of GH￠9,781.00 without her consent.  

The Prosecutor said when Felicity went to Nashiru at the banking hall for clarification, he informed her that fraudsters had stolen her money so she left.

As part of a police investigation into the complaint, on November 16, 2023, they obtained a court order and served the management of the bank to provide detailed information on the transaction, which led to the stealing of the cash, Inspector Lartey said.

The prosecution said the Audit Department of the Bank, which investigated the theft blamed Nashiru for the theft and presented their report to the Police.

The report also revealed that Nashiru used his cell phone to transfer the stolen money from Felicity’s account to two different mobile phone accounts. 

Nashiru was, subsequently, arrested.

According to the Prosecution, during the investigation, Nashiru revealed to the Police that he assisted Felicity in installing a banking application on her mobile phone and in the process obtained her log-in credentials.  

The Prosecutor said to cover up the crime, Nashiru tasked his brother, now at large, to get him two Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards to purposely deposit the stolen money into it.  

Chief Inspector Lartey said after Nashiru and his brother had successfully completed the transaction, they discarded the two SIM cards to ensure they were not apprehended.