Sekondi, April 15, GNA - A Sekondi High Court on Tuesday sentenced Jeffrey Mensah 49, former branch Manager of SG-SSB Bank Limited on his own plea to 20 years imprisonment for stealing 120,000 Ghana cedis (1.2 billion cedis) from the Bibiani branch of the bank.

Madam Patience Klinogo, Principal State Attorney prosecuting told the court presided over by Mr Justice Robin Batu that the accused was transferred from the Bibiani branch to Adum branch of the bank in Kumasi in March 2007 and during auditing the theft was detected. She said the accused admitted the offence and pledged to pay the debt but instead went into hiding. Madam Klinogo said on September 28 last year, the accused was arrested from his hideout in Kumasi and handed over to the Bibiani Police who after preliminary investigations handed him over to the Western Regional Criminal Investigations Department for further investigations and later charged with the offence.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Batu said the accused was given several opportunities to re-pay the money but failed to honour his promise. Mr Sam Johnson representing the accused pleaded with the court to deal leniently with his client since he tried to refund the money but failed.