Chronicle --ST. AUGUSTINE?S College at Cape Coast, in the Central Region, one of the model schools in Ghana, has been hit by a financial scandal which runs into billions of cedis.

Chronicle investigations indicate that Yaw Tudah, the bursar of the school, connived with five other account personnel, who forged the signature of the headmaster, Mr. Francis Amissah, and withdrew an estimated amount of ?1.2 billion from the school?s coffers.

Yaw Tudah is currently on the run and information available to the paper indicates that Tudah had sought refuge in the United States of America. Consequently, Yaw Tudah and Nana Ekow Asimah, an accountant, had been interdicted pending further investigations.

The Chronicle had learnt that following the detection of the fraud, workers at the account department are being transferred from St Augustine?s to other schools in the region.

The scandal was detected last November and Tudah and his accomplices were detained in police cell for three days. They were later granted bail but Tudah, the alleged originator of the scandal, managed to escape to USA, while school was in progress.

The fraudulent activity of Tudah and his colleagues had virtually affected the effective operation of the school because every cheque had to be approved by the regional accountant.

Mr. Amissah told the paper in an interview that the school had had problems with its account and had subsequently notified the regional accountant. He said auditors had been invited to audit the account.

However, the headmaster could not tell the whereabouts of the bursar, who is said to be domiciling in America. ? I do not know the whereabouts of the bursar,? Amissah told the paper when it quizzed him about the present abode of Tudah.

Chief Inspector Jasper Kofi Essien, the investigator confirming the story said Tudah had fled the country. He revealed that Tudah had refunded part of the booty from his hideout.

Chief Inspector Essien told the paper that since there had been a new development in connection with the scandal, he would not release the names of those suspects until investigations were complete.