From Frank Mensah, Kumasi

MR. ADJEI Manu, an accounts officer of the Kumasi branch of Ghana Post, who was tried for embezzling GH¢87,000 belonging to the institution, has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) Circuit Court in Kumasi. The house, which the accused stated he used the monies he stole to build at Adugyama, has also being seized by the court, and handed over to Ghana Post.

Giving judgment last Monday, the presiding judge, His Honour Adjei Frimpong, stated that between April 7 and December last year, an internal audit took place at the Kumasi office of the Ghana Post, where it was discovered that the accused had misappropriated certain amounts of money from the Agriculture Development Bank (ADB).

According to the judge, even though the accused pleaded not guilty on the first hearing of the case, he (accused) failed to cross-examine the eight witnesses who testified before the court during its hearing, and believed the accused should not have pleaded not guilty.

Having told the court that he used the money to build a house for his family, the judge quoted section 146 of the criminal code, which states that nobody should be made to benefit from a crime, and for that matter, ordered that the said house be seized and handed over to Ghana Post.

He also stated that under the fundamental principle of law, nobody was to be made to benefit from a crime hence the seizure of the house.