Anti-corruption advocate Vitus Azeem has called on the government to prioritize the recovery of embezzled state funds over the imprisonment of convicted individuals.

His statement follows the sentencing of former MASLOC CEO Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu to 10 years in prison with hard labor for various acts of embezzlement.

Additionally, former MASLOC COO Daniel Axim received a five-year prison term with hard labor after being found guilty on 78 counts related to financial misconduct.

Azeem contends that the primary focus should be on retrieving the misappropriated funds rather than solely punishing the perpetrators.

He emphasized that if individuals are found culpable for causing financial losses to the state, the foremost action should be the restitution of the stolen funds.

“As for sending the person to jail, it should be a second factor. That is penalising the person for the crime. The state should be interested in getting the money back either in cash or properties acquired by the person in the years.”

“So for me, the priority should be recovering the money. Retrieving the money that has been illegally taken and then of course the person has committed a crime by illegally taking the money, you can now go ahead and jail the person,” he said.

According to Mr. Azeem, the investigation involving Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu and Daniel Axim should be a starting point because there are a lot of people involved in it.

“The investigation should go beyond these two personalities. There are people who collaborated, there are people who connived. There are people who condoned in this whole exercise and they should be brought to book.”