[1977]DLCA1233 • May 11, 1977 • High Court
AMPAH vs. THE REPUBLIC
The appellant, Joseph Erskine Ampah, and co-accused were executive director and accountant respectively of the Ghana Chamber of Mines. They were charged with stealing a total sum of ¢142,321.74 by diverting cheques intended for the Chamber into accounts controlled by them or their agents, using deceptive methods to conceal the fraud.
read moreJUDGMENT OF AZU CRABBE C.J. He delivered the judgment of the court. The appellant, Joseph Erskine Ampah, and one Augustus Evans Kwamina Browne, were jointly charged before the Circuit Court, Accra, on twenty counts with the offence of stealing contrary to section 124 of the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29). The relevant facts out of which this appeal arises can be stated shortly. The appellant and Browne were the executive director and accountant respectively of the Ghana Chamber of Mines. Browne had authority, either together with the appellant or one Colonel Bean, to sign cheques for and on behalf of the Chamber. During the period 1 July 1971 to April 1973, the appellant and Browne, to the exclusion of Colonel Bean, exercised their right to sign cheques for and on behalf of the Chamber and were able thereby to convert various sums of money, totalling ¢142,321.74, belonging to the Chamber to their own use. The moduso perandi of the two men has been vividly described in the judgment ap....