14/07/2023
Sammy Awuku
Three persons including staff of the National Lottery Authority (NLA) are in the grips of the National Security for unlawful liquidation of lottery wins.
According to information available to DAILY GUIDE, officials from the National Signals Bureau (NSB) stormed the Fortune House headquarters of NLA to take over its servers and interrogate staff of the IT Department to uncover what it is believed to be illegal transactions on the NLA IT systems.
It is alleged that following investigations by the NSB into some unusual liquidation of wins, two suspects were picked up at various locations, leading to the arrest of an IT staff of the Authority.
The suspects, who were said to have made millions of cedis out of the fraudulent act to acquire properties, are in the custody of the National Security, assisting with investigations.
A leaked internal circular to the staff of NLA revealed that on March 1, 2023, the Director-General, Samuel Awuku at a staff durbar informed staff about ongoing investigations by the National Signals Bureau into some irregular transactions on liquidation of unclaimed wins noticed on NLA’s IT systems.
On Thursday, March 23, 2023, at a meeting of the NLA Governing Board, the NSB briefed the board on the ongoing investigations where a staff member confessed his involvement in the fraudulent activities leading to the loss of millions to the fraudsters.
Before the NLA Governing Board, the staff member admitted to liquidating unclaimed wins in concert with others and pleaded for forgiveness.
However, the Governing Board, after considering all the facts, directed that the NSB investigates and pursues the matter to its logical conclusion.
The NSB has subsequently expanded its investigation to cover all aspects of suspected fraudulent acts, regardless of whether those involved are executive management, management, or any other category of staff.
NSB after its investigations forwarded the docket on its findings to the Attorney General’s Office for the prosecution of the staff member currently in their custody and any other staff or persons found culpable.
Meanwhile, information gathered by DAILY GUIDE indicates that tension is brewing at the Authority as employees are sitting on tenterhooks, with suspicions of more people expected to be picked up in the coming days.
The investigation was instigated by the Director-General, Mr. Awuku, who, after noticing the unusual trend of the liquidation of wins, informed the NSB to assist in unraveling the mystery.
