Former MASLOC Boss Sedina Tamakloe sentenced to 10 years in prison

Former CEO of MASLOC, Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, has been sentenced to ten years in prison with hard labor, while the former Chief Operating Officer of MASLOC, Daniel Axim, will serve five years behind bars.

The sentencing was handed down in court on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, following a trial that began in 2019. The duo was found guilty on 78 counts, including causing financial loss to the state, stealing, conspiracy to steal, money laundering, and causing loss to public property, in violation of the public procurement law.

Tamakloe Attionu was tried in absentia after she absconded following permission from the Accra High Court to seek medical treatment abroad. The state presented six witnesses during the trial.

The prosecution alleged that Tamakloe Attionu and Axim embezzled GH¢3.19 million during their tenure at MASLOC and caused a deliberate financial loss of GH¢1.97 million to the state.

They were also accused of making unauthorized commitments that led to financial obligations totaling GH¢61.74 million for the government.

Furthermore, they were charged with causing GH¢22.15 million in public property loss, improper payment of GH¢273,743, and laundering GH¢3.7 million.

The trial proceeded in Tamakloe Attionu’s absence after the court granted the prosecution’s request to proceed with the trial in her absence on February 24, 2023. This decision came after Tamakloe Attionu failed to return from a medical treatment trip to the United States in 2021.

Prior to the trial in absentia, on January 24, 2023, the court ordered former Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) CEO Alex Mould and actor Gavivina Tamakloe to pay a GH¢5 million bail bond to the state due to their failure to produce Tamakloe Attionu, for whom they acted as sureties.

The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) investigated fraudulent disbursements of MASLOC funds involving Tamakloe Attionu and Axim in 2017. Investigations revealed that MASLOC had invested GH¢150,000 in Obaatanpa Micro-Finance Company Limited in June 2014.

Tamakloe Attionu subsequently offered an additional GH¢500,000 investment to Obaatanpa, leading to the issuance of a MASLOC Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) cheque worth GH¢500,000 to Obaatanpa on July 24, 2014.

Despite the refunding of the GH¢500,000 in cash to Tamakloe Attionu on August 28, 2014, she allegedly appropriated the funds for personal use. Subsequent investigations revealed discrepancies, suggesting the misappropriation of funds by Tamakloe Attionu.