The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has announced the conviction of six individuals for their involvement in a payroll corruption scheme involving ghost names and fraudulent salary payments with the Ghana Education Service (GES).

The High Court in Tamale gave its ruling following guilty pleas entered under the OSP's plea bargaining framework, which led to full restitution and reparation to the State.

The first accused, Tahidu Yakubu, is a former teacher at Balogu M/A Junior High School (Balogu JHS) in Yendi. The second accused, Abdulai Abubakar Sadic, is the Integrated Municipal Personnel Payroll Database (IPPD) Coordinator at Yendi, responsible for, inter alia, payroll and reactivation of salaries.

Sammy Suuk, the third accused, is the Schools Improvement Support Officer (SISO) for the Yendi North Circuit and his responsibilities include monitoring and supervision of schools and verification of monthly salaries of teachers in his area of supervision. Mohammed Yusif Jay, the fourth accused, is the former Headmaster of Balogu JHS, in charge of the validation of salaries of teachers in the school.

The fifth accused, Stafford Korletey Azudey-Barres is an Assistant Chief Account Technician at the Controller and Accountant-General's Department in Accra. The sixth accused, Osman Issahaku, is the current Headmaster of Balogu JHS, in charge of the validation of salaries of teachers in the school.

The accused persons faced 22 counts of the following aggregate charges:

i. Corruption by and of a Public Officer, contrary to sections 239(1) & (2) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) as amended by section 1 of the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Act, 2020 (Act 1034).

ii. False Certificate by a Public Officer, contrary to section 249 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) as amended by section 3 of the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Act, 2020 (Act 1034).

iii. Causing Financial loss to the Republic, contrary to section 179A(3)(a) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, (Act 29).

The evidence established that on or about 8 August 2022, the first accused vacated his post as a teacher at Balogu JHS after accepting appointment as an Accounts Officer at a state agency Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) in the North-East Region.

In September 2022, the fourth accused, who was the Headmaster of Balogu JHS, informed the third accused about the first accused's departure from the school.

Notwithstanding the vacation of the first accused from post, the fourth accused knowingly unlawfully kept validating the first accused as entitled to the payment of salaries from August 2022 to January 2023, while the third accused also knowingly unlawfully verified the validations of the fourth accused for salaries to be paid to the first accused from September 2022 to January 2023.

In total, an amount of GHC25,162.66 was validated as gross salary for the first accused from August 2022 to January 2023.

Out of the said amount, payment of GHC16,416.89 was lodged into the first accused's bank account as his net salary between August 2022 and January 2023 a period in which he had vacated his teaching position and receiving salary as a MASLOC employee.

In September 2023, the fourth accused was reposted to Yendi SDA JHS, while the sixth accused was transferred to Balogu JHS as the substantive Headmaster around the same time.

The fourth accused continued to act as the validator for Balogu JHS up until January 2024, while the sixth accused continued as the validator for his former school, Yendi SDA JHS, due to the delay in the set-up. process of a relieving validator.

In January 2024, a pretentious request was made by the first accused for the reactivation of his salaries from July 2023 to February 2024. Acting on that request, the third accused unlawfully authored a letter in January 2024, requesting that the reactivation application by the first accused should be granted.

The second accused unlawfully verified the documentation attached to the pretentious reinstatement application as proper. The fifth accused unlawfully facilitated the reactivation of the payment of funds into the first accused's bank account without recourse to established procedure.

The sixth accused also unlawfully authored a letter in January 2024, requesting the reactivation of the first accused's salary from July 2023 to February 2024.

This reactivation resulted in the accrual of GHC61,156.29 as gross salary arrears from February 2023 to February 2024 to the credit of the first accused. Out of that amount, the sum of GHC47,064.34 was paid to the first accused as net salary arrears for the period February 2023 to February 2024.

According to the OSP, their actions led to the unlawful payment of over GHC86,000 .

So far, a total of GHC106,319.64 has been retrieved, and the OSP is presently pursuing other suspects as part of its investigation.

Presently, the OSP has six other criminal trials ongoing in Accra, Tamale, and Kumasi as it intensifies efforts to charge more individuals under investigation and safeguard public funds.