The Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, has punished one of his bankers for accepting a huge cash deposit into his personal current account without his prior notice and authorization.

Mr Amidu hinted that his personal bank account was credited with strange money without his consent.

He said he got the bank to reverse the transaction because it did not have his consent to authorize the said transfer.

According to him, it eventually emerged that the money was not deposited into his account to trap or dent his image. He ordered for the money to be returned to the sender because the bank failed to notify him.

The Special Prosecutor said as a form of punishment for the bank for accepting money into his account without his approval, he instructed the paying agency to pay the agreed sum into his savings account at a different bank.

Throwing more light on the issue, he said even though he had concrete agreement with the bank (name not known) not to accept money transfers into his account without his consent and approval, the bank flatly flouted the rule.

Martin Amidu said the bank’s weird action endangered his integrity so he vehemently protested by demanding clarification from the bank immediately he realized that his balance in the bank had bloated without his knowledge.

According to him, he realized the bloated account on August 3, 2018 and he wrote to the bank on August 4, 2018 to demand answers for that weird transaction, which was done on his blindside, even though he owns the accounts.

Martin Amidu stated that his action forced the bank to return the strange cash to the sender, adding that the sender was eventually traced and it turned out that the money was not sent into his account with diabolical intentions.

“It turned out that without giving me a payment advice notice to alert me of the fulfillment of an order of the High Court in respect of the Judgment and Orders of the High Court in my favour dated 4th September 2014, one of the agencies affected by the court orders had unilaterally transferred that sum of money into my current account,” an article written by the Special Prosecutor, which the paper has sighted, stated.

Martin Amidu said the bank’s weird action of accepting cash payment into his current account without his prior notice and approval clearly endangered his integrity so he decided to punish the bank afterwards.

“In consequence of my letter and the bank’s reaction thereto, officers of both the bank and the transferring agency looked me up to clarify the matter and the agency provided me with the re-computation pursuant to the order of the court to enable me to verify the details.

“The agreed amount will now, hopefully, be paid to me in due course. As punishment for accepting the automated transfer into my current account without notifying me or without my consent, I instructed the paying agency to pay the agreed sum into my savings account at a different bank.”

Martin Amidu admonished the citizenry that they have the right to be informed by their bankers about payments that are made into their accounts, stressing the need for the people to always insist on that right from their bankers to avert trouble.

The Special Prosecutor said he decided to share his experience with the citizenry in a form of a written article so that they would know their rights, thereby preventing them from having issues with their integrity.

Double Salary

Mr. Amidu disclosed that former Ministers of State, one from the Upper West Region and the other from the Upper East Region took steps “to correct the erroneous transfers of double salaries into their current accounts.”

“This demonstrates that patriotic citizens will immediately take steps to correct erroneous transfers of public monies into their accounts instead of keeping them for years and later resorting to making excuses when they are fished out of their suspicious illegal activities,” he stressed.

He said he shared his personal experience so that the public will show responsibility by instructing their bankers to return suspicious payments of public funds into their accounts.

“This buys one time to investigate the transaction and to decide whether it is genuine for one to accept it. Running the account with the suspicious payments of public funds for months and years and turning around to make excuses gives the account holder zero credibility. When the political elite are the recipients of such illegal public funds, it takes on the colour of impunity and untouchability.”