A former senior accountant at the Ministry of Trade and Industry has been remanded by an Accra Circuit Court for alleged embezzlement.

The accused, Edmund Agboke, now retired, pleaded not guilty to charges relating to misappropriating funds belonging to the Ministry to the tune of GHS202000.

Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Kwabena Adu said internal auditors reviewing the Ministry’s financial records from January to December 2015 detected that an amount of GHS98858 could not be accounted for.

It was subsequently discovered that the company had also defaulted in tax payments to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) of up to GHS120, 299. The Ministry had also failed to pay workers’ allowances though the Ministry had approved payment and released the amount to that effect. Internal investigations identified Agboke as the unauthorised recipient of the monies involved.

A complaint was lodged with the police by the chief accountant at the Ministry, following which Mr Agboke was picked up on May 4 and arraigned.

Agboke, upon interrogation by police, admitted to the offence, saying he loaned GHS90000 of the figure to a friend who lives on the Spintex Road, and the police have begun the search for the man.

The presiding judge, Justice Aboagye Tandoh, remanded the accused in police custody to reappear on May 24.