Alhassan granted GH¢90m bail (photos)
The interdicted Executive Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), Alhaji Imoro Alhassan, who has been accused of stealing state funds, was yesterday granted bail in the sum of GH¢90 million by the Tax and Financial Division of the Accra Fast Track High Court.
As part of his bail conditions, he is to provide three sureties, each of whom will be justified. They must collectively own properties worth GH¢1 million.
Alhassan has also been directed to surrender his passport to the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) until further notice.
He is to report himself to the BNI three days in a week and on any day that the BNI may need him to assist in investigations.
Alhassan will reappear before the court, presided over by Justice Georgina Mensah-Datsa, on December 8, 2014.
He has pleaded not guilty to stealing GH¢86.9 million belonging to the state through the payment of service allowances to fictitious service persons on the NSS payroll.
During yesterday’s sitting, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Ms Cynthia Lamptey, told the court that the BNI was yet to complete its investigations.
She said although the investigations were yet to be completed, the offence for which Alhassan had been charged was a bailable one, hence the prosecution would leave the decision to grant bail to the discretion of the court.
Below are images of Alhaji Imoro's appearance in court on Monday
{gallery}nss_in_court{/gallery}
Defence makes case for bail
The lawyer for the accused, Mr Denis Adjei Dwomoh, who held brief for Mr Yonni Kulendi, pleaded with the court to release the suspect, since the offence was bailable and the state was not against the bail.
Beefing up his plea for bail, Mr Dwomoh said Section 96 of the criminal and other offences procedure provided judicial discretion for the court in matters concerning bail.
Facts
According to the prosecution, the accused was responsible for the posting and placement, raising of vouchers and payment of National Service persons in the country.
In July this year, the BNI received some complaints of malfeasance and began nationwide investigations into the operations of the NSS with regard to the payment of monthly allowances to service persons.
According to the prosecution, investigations so far had revealed that for every month, starting from September 2013 to July this year, GH¢7.9 million was paid to 22,612 non-existent service persons.
It said the ‘ghost’ names were generated at the NSS Headquarters under Alhassan’s supervision and he instructed that the names be added to the payment vouchers (PVs).
It said in all GH¢86.9 million was received by Alhassan from the 10 regional directors.