2 in court for lottery fraud

Two lottery agents have appeared before an Accra High Court for allegedly submitting fraudulent ticket and falsifying pay list worth over GH¢163,000.00.

The accused persons - Samuel Asante Arthur, 51 and Abigail Serwaa Appiah, 32 - both pleaded not guilty to four counts of conspiracy to commit crime and falsification of account.

They were granted bail by the court presided over by Susana Eduful to the tune of GH¢92,000.00 with seven sureties to be justified, all of whom should be family members.

They are to reappear before the court on December 22 this year.

The facts of the case as presented in court by the Prosecutor, Chief Inspector Samuel Ahiabor, were that Asante Arthur, who is a lotto agent with Alpha Lotto Company, employed Serwaa Appiah into the company without the knowledge of the complainant, Joseph Gyapong, who is his supervisor.

He added that sometime in April 2022, Asante Arthur hatched a plan with Serwaa Appiah that he was indebted to many people and that he wanted Serwaa Appiah to assist him by writing fraudulent winning tickets to him anytime winning numbers were mentioned after close of lotto in order for him to present same to the complainant as if they were staked at the normal time of writing lotto to customers.

Chief Inspector Ahiabor further revealed that on April 20, 2022, Serwaa Appiah wrote a winning ticket of an amount of GH¢2.50, amounting to a winning price of GH¢600.00, and same was presented by Appiah Arthur to the complainant for payment.

He added that the accused persons on several occasions prepared and submitted fraudulent winning tickets to the tune of GH¢20,000 and same amount was paid to Asante Arthur, which he shared with Serwaa Appiah.

“Again, between the months of April 2021 and March 2022, Asante Arthur took advantage of his office and falsified the pay list (weekly statement form) of credible winners of Alpha Lotto and succeeded in paying himself an amount of GH¢143,154.00,” he added.

Theft

Chief Inspector Ahiabor also stated that during the annual accounting and financial period of the company, theft of an amount of GH¢143,154.00 was detected.

“As a result, Appiah Arthur was subsequently audited, during which he admitted having taken amount of GH¢143,154.00 by falsifying the account of the company,” he said.

He added that Appiah Arthur, therefore, refunded an amount of GH¢15,000.00 to the complainant and pleaded for enough time to pay the remaining amount of GH¢121,800.00 but failed to honour his promise and went into hiding.

“On November 10 this year, an official complaint was lodged by the complainant with the police and the accused persons were subsequently arrested from their hideout at Labadi. In the course of investigation, the accused persons admitted the offences in their investigation caution statements,” he added.