2 Fraudsters Granted Bail Of GHS150,000 Each

An Accra Circuit Court has granted bail to two people accused of conspiring to commit a crime, namely defrauding by pretense.

Michel Kota, 28, and Aziz Ben, 32, have each been granted bail in the amount of GHS150,000, with two sureties each to be justified.

They are being jailed together on charges of criminal conspiracy and defrauding through pretenses. They have entered a not-guilty plea.

The prosecution has three weeks to file witness statements and other disclosures, according to the court.

The case was adjourned to July 21, 2022, by the court presided over by Afia Owusuaa Appiah.

According to prosecutor Police Chief Inspector Gulliver Tenkorang, the complainant, King Joe Atani, was a clearing agent, while Kota and Aziz claimed to be welders and lived in Sapeiman near Amasaman.

According to the prosecution, in November 2020, Abraham Tettey, an errand boy for the complainant and a witness in the case, introduced the accused persons and one other who was presently on the run to the complainant, stating that they were in the Bitcoin business.

They were able to persuade the complainant to meet them in Nungua, according to Chief Inspector Tenkorang.

According to the prosecution, during the meeting, the accused and their accomplice, who is now at large, informed the complainant that a Chinese company that had been contracted to create money for the Ghana government had brought a container containing sheets that could be turned into currency.

He explained that the Chinese had returned to China due to the restriction on illegal mining and had left the container in their care, as well as their employer, whom they identified as Alhaji.

The complainant was uninterested, according to the prosecution, but the accused person cleverly demonstrated and showed him samples of the supposed currencies.

They then sought and received GHS241,000 in cash from the complainant under the guise of purchasing chemicals to clean the alleged Chinese-made currency papers.

According to Chief Inspector Tenkorang, the accused persons told the complainant that they were going to get food and come after receiving the money, but they were able to flee.

According to the prosecution, a complaint was filed, and Kota and Aziz were caught, but Mohammed, their accomplice, managed to flee.

Papers cut in the shape of cash notes were discovered during a check of their room.

During the inquiry, he said, it was discovered that Kota used his portion of the money to buy a Hyundai Elantra 2012 model from a witness in the case shortly after the accused persons duped the complainant.

When Kota was granted police inquiry bail, the prosecution claims he rushed to the witness and asked him to transfer the car into a different person’s name and backdate purchase records, but his efforts were thwarted when he was tracked and intercepted.