In connection with an alleged GHC 35,900.00 fraudulent transaction, an Accra Circuit Court has remanded a former sales representative of the State Insurance Company (SIC). Additionally, Richard Kwame Appiah, 32 is accused of stealing GHC 93,363.00 by allegedly forging official documents. He has denied the charges. The next time Appiah appears in court is on February 1, 2023.
In a previous statement to the court, Police Chief Inspector Maxwell Ayim identified the complainants as being Madam Naomi Sakyi, a trader and SIC client, and Mr. Robert Asampong, Manager of SIC’s Sika Plan Unit, Makola Branch. Appiah, the accused, was a former SIC sales representative, and both were residents of Dansoman, Cantonments, and MaCarthy Hills, respectively.
According to Chief Inspector Ayim, the accused person contacted Madam Naomi, one of the policy holders of the Sika Plan (Okum-Ka), and collected contributions from her as part of his daily routine of visiting his clients in the Accra Central Business District. He gave her the assurance that, upon the maturity of the said policy, all the accrued funds would be given to her.
The complainant was allegedly persuaded to contribute up to GHCI46,000.00 by the accused with the purpose to steal, but the court heard that the accused only gave the complainant a down payment of GHCI52,637.00 and failed to account for the remaining funds. According to the prosecution, Madam Naomi visited the workplace of Appiah to inquire about the irregularities but the defendant wasn’t there. The Manager allegedly informed her that the accused had left his employment on October 4, 2021, and that attempts to contact him had been unsuccessful because none of his contacts could be reached. According to the prosecution, Madam Naomi filed an official report with the police on October 15, 2021, and the Manager filed another on November 9 of the same year.
Additional investigations by the Manager and the Operations Manager, who was also a witness in the case, showed that the accused had taken GHC35,900.00 from clients without depositing it in the bank’s funds. The accused allegedly fabricated the official SIC Life Company Sika Plan (Okum-Ka card), delivered it to Madam Naomi, and took all the contributions totaling GHC93,363.00, according to the prosecution. It stated that the accused was detained on February 7, 2022, and that he confessed to the crime in his cautionary statement. According to the prosecution, Appiah’s faked card was taken from his room after his detention.
