The Attorney General’s Office is taking steps to extradite Sedina Christine Tamakloe Attionu, the former Chief Executive Officer of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) during the previous John Mahama administration, to Ghana to serve a 10-year hard labor sentence.
A warrant for Attionu’s arrest was obtained by the Office after she was declared a fugitive by an Accra High Court. This declaration came when Attionu did not return to Ghana for trial after being granted permission to travel to the United States for medical reasons in 2021.
Ghanaian law enforcement, in collaboration with INTERPOL, will work towards bringing Attionu back to Ghana to serve her sentence. This marks the second time a warrant has been issued for her arrest, the first being on November 16, 2021, when she failed to return for trial.
Conviction
Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, a Court of Appeal Justice sitting as an additional High Court judge, sentenced Attionu to 10 years in hard labor for causing financial loss to the state. Daniel Axim, an interdicted Operations Manager at MASLOC, was also sentenced to five years for the same offense related to misappropriation of state funds.
The judge, before sentencing, remarked on the impact of educated individuals engaging in financial crimes, stating they could cause more harm than violent criminals.
Both were found guilty on all 78 charges brought against them by the Attorney General’s Office in 2019, relating to actions that led to the state losing GH¢93,044,134.66.
Arrest Warrant
During the trial, the judge noted the lack of efforts by the state to have Attionu arrested and brought back to Ghana for trial. Stella Ohene Appiah, a Principal State Attorney, responded that extradition would be easier once Attionu was convicted.
Yvonne Yaache-Adomako, an Assistant State Attorney, moved a motion for the court to issue a warrant for Attionu’s arrest so she could serve her prison sentence. The court, presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, granted the application and issued the warrant for Attionu’s arrest, as she is believed to be in hiding in the United States.
Sentences
Attionu received a total of 21 years’ imprisonment in hard labor for various offenses, including theft (10 years), causing financial loss to the state (3 years), loss to public property (2 years), improper payment (6 months), unauthorized commitment leading to government financial obligation (6 months), money laundering (3 years), and contravention of the Public Procurement Act (2 years). She was also fined GH¢78,000, with a default of an additional six years in prison.
Daniel Axim, on the other hand, was sentenced to a total of eight years, including conspiracy to steal (5 years), conspiracy to cause financial loss to the state (12 months), and two years for money laundering. He was also fined GH¢18,000, with a default sentence of an additional 24 months in prison.
The court specified that these sentences would run concurrently, meaning Attionu would serve a maximum of 10 years in prison, while Axim would serve a total of five years.
