During cross-examination by Principal State Attorney Winifred Sarpong in the ongoing trial of the boss of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Christina Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, the second accused, Daniel Axim, pointed fingers at his former boss.
Mr Axim claimed that the memos, leading to a purported financial loss of GH¢1,706,000, were prepared at the behest of Sedina Attionu, who is currently on bail.
These memos were allegedly raised for financing nationwide sensitization projects, transportation (T&T), and refreshments for beneficiaries.
Mr Axim denied personally benefiting from these funds, asserting that he would collect the money from the Account office and hand it over to Sedina for disbursement.
He placed the blame squarely on Madam Attionu, recounting instances where she postponed payments for T&T and other expenses after sensitization programs, only to later promise to settle them.
As the former Head of Operations at MASLOC under Sedina Attionu, Axim stated that all cash memos bearing his signatures were authorized by her.
He explained that when he signed memos requesting funds, they were returned to Sedina Attionu, who would then approve them for Finance to release the funds, occasionally collecting the money himself to hand it over to her.
“I remember vividly that her driver (A1), Neequeye, also collected some of the same sensitisation programme money that I generated a memos for. The same applies to Nana Serwah Tawiah and Anita Gaffer,” he said.
He emphasized that the practice of collecting money from the Account and delivering it to the CEO or political heads was not uncommon at MASLOC. Axim highlighted instances where he and other officers collected funds without documentation for the CEO.
His role, he claimed, was mainly to generate memos as per her instructions, which her office would submit to Finance for disbursement.
Axim revealed that Sedina’s Secretariat withheld part of staff traveling allowances, alleging that she cheated staff, including himself, on international assignments by retaining their allowances, ranging from US$500 to US$1000. He cited instances where Sedina Attionu allegedly split the Head of Legal’s US$5,000 into two.
Axim and Sedina are both accused of raising 23 memos, resulting in a financial loss of over GH¢1.5 million to the Republic of Ghana.