The Bank of Ghana has highlighted the "significant decline" in fraud activities at financial institutions involving company staff.

The Central Bank in its 2022 Fraud Report for Banks, SDIs and PSPs, recorded a 5.62% decline in staff-fraud cases from 53.46% in 2021 to 47.84% in 2022.

This has been attributed to the constant improvement in the internal controls of Banks and Specialised Deposit-taking Institutions (SDIs).

"Another factor is the stiff punishment that has been meted out by the courts to the culprits which has served as a deterrent to others," the BoG further noted.

According to the Central Bank, a total of GH¢82 million were stolen by fraudsters in 2022.

The report comes at a time when some fraud activities by bank staff have left many Ghanaians and social media users shell-shocked.

25-year-old Emmanuel Sakyi Afriyie, a contract staff of one of the major banks in the country has been arrested during an escape attempt after allegedly stealing close to GH¢1.2million from customers’ bank accounts.

Emmanuel Sakyi Afriyie is facing charges on various crimes, including stealing and forgery of other documents and falsification of accounts.

Per reports from the complainant, who is the Head of Fraud Detection and Operations at the bank, Emmanuel secretly used a mobile phone to film his boss while she was entering her password to gain access to the monies from the customers’ accounts.

He allegedly used part of the money to buy a mobile phone, Iphone 14 Pro Max, a vehicle, Toyota Camry, moved some to his account in another bank and that of his accomplices’ accounts – 17 in total – in various banks and their mobile money accounts.

Emmanuel had been put before court together with some of his accomplices and was granted bail after pleading not guilty to the offences.

But on June 4, 2023, the accused together with his girlfriend, who stood as surety for him attempted to escape from the jurisdiction to Dubai, but were arrested at the Kotoka International Airport by the Ghana Immigration Service and handed over to the police.

Emmanuel is set to reappear before the court on June 16, 2023.

In a related event, Martha Amakye, a 34-year-old outsourced worker of Stanbic Bank, has been jailed 8 years for swindling numerous customers of the bank out of GHS1.8 million by an Accra High Court.

Amakye has been convicted of exploiting 246 bank customers from 2015 to 2016. She deceived these customers by collecting money from them, claiming that she would invest it in fixed deposits with lucrative monthly interest rates. However, it was later discovered that she had fabricated these fixed deposits without the bank's approval.

Originally faced with 31 charges of defrauding by false pretense, Amakye initially pleaded not guilty. However, the court ultimately found the prosecution's case to be convincingly proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Although the number of staff involved in financial fraud has declined, the Bank of Ghana remains vigilant to nip the canker in the bud.

As such, management of banks and Specialised Deposit-taking Institutions (SDIs) have been admonished to undertake proper background checks of all prospective temporary and permanent employees.

NOTICE NO. BOG GOV SEC 2023 08 Banks SDIs and PSPs Fraud Report 2022 Trends and Statistics FSD by The Independent Ghana on Scribd

Source: The Independent Ghana