Juaben (Ash), Jan. 11, GNA - The Juaben Circuit Court has granted bail in the sum of GH¢450,000.00, to the acting accountant of the Sekyere East district mutual health insurance scheme, for allegedly embezzling GH¢32,582.00.

Bismark Adu Acheampong, the acting accountant and two other agents, Abdul Aziz Mohammed and Isaka Ibrahim would re-appear on Wednesday, Februar= y 2. They were remanded in prison custody when they made their first appearance on Wednesday, December 22, last year. Police Inspector Daniel Gazdo had earlier told the court, presided ove= r by Mr Justice Alex Obeng Asante that, the initial charge was being substituted, as the amount of money stolen had risen to GH¢42,429.42. This followed an internal audit commissioned by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).

Counsel for the accused, Mr Queba Anane, pleaded with the court to grant his clients bail to re-organize and open their defence. The Judge, in granting the bail request, said he was mindful of the fact that copies of the audited accounts had to be sent to the accused in prison custody. He would, however, impose stringent conditions to make it unattractive for them to jump bail. It may be recalled that the District Scheme Manager, Mr Atta Mensah, caused the arrest of Acheampong and the two agents on December 17, when he detected that the said amount, belonging to the scheme, could not be traced= ..