PHOTO: Five Employees Of An Oil Marketing Company Steal GH�852, 877.55

Five employees of an oil marketing company have been arrested for allegedly stealing GH�852, 877.55 from the company. The suspects are: Mawuko Hiamabe, 26; Gabriel Appiah, 39; Patrick Adu Kofi, 46; Julius Aflo, 32, and Augustine Gyan, 52. Hiamabe and Gyan allegedly stole GH�813,109, while Appiah made away with GH�29, 886.24. Adu Kofi and Aflo siphoned GH9, 882.31 from the company whose name has been withheld. Briefing the Daily Graphic in Accra, the Accra Regional Police Crime Officer, Chief Superintendent Emmanuel Frank Adu Fati, said the five men were arrested after a report was made to the police by the management of the oil company which has outlets throughout the country. He said the suspects have already appeared before an Accra Circuit Court where they were charged with stealing and were granted bail to reappear later. Gyan, who was a Station Manager at Berekum and Ejura, and his accomplice, Hiamabe, a former Customer Service Manager in Accra, were arrested on April 18, 2013. Adu and Aflo were the Station Manager and Supervisor respectively at the Apam branch in the Central Region, while Gyan was in charge of distributing petroleum products to the company�s customers in Accra and Tema. Gyan was arrested after an audit carried out by the company revealed that GH�813,109, being the sale of petroleum products from two stations, was missing. The police said during interrogation, Gyan mentioned the name of Hiamabe, a Customer Service Manager in Accra as his accomplice so Hiamabe was subsequently arrested for questioning. The Accra Regional Crime Officer said initial investigations prompted the company to further audit the books of Adu and Aflo who had been interdicted for allegedly stealing the company�s money. The police said during the audit, the management of the company detected that GH�9,882.31 was not accounted for. After interrogation, the two refunded GH�3,700 as part of the money they were said to have stolen. A source at the police alerted business owners about the rising theft by some workers in private firms, as seen in the disclaimers in the newspapers and urged businesses to tighten their control systems.