Fire In Court As MP Is Charged For Stealing

The trial of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sene, Hon. Felix Twumasi-Appiah and his accomplice, Juan Carlos, a Spaniard, who have been accused of fraud and stealing, came to an abrupt end on Thursday, April 29 when there was a loud explosion at the Accra Circuit Court.

The presiding judge, lawyers and other litigants in the court had to run for cover when they heard the loud explosion from a fire in an adjoining court room.

The prosecutor handling the case, ASP A. Derry, was on his feet telling the court that if the accused persons were granted bail they could interfere with ongoing investigations and therefore asked that they be remanded in police custody, when someone suddenly shouted at the top of his voice, “My Lord Fire!”.

Simultaneously, others outside the courtroom also started screaming that there was fire I the building causing a near stampede, as everybody converged on the door, jostling for space to run out.

The trial judge, D.E.K. Daketsey, however tried to calm the situation in the courtroom by saying, “Be patient”, but realized had no choice but to join the fleeing lawyers, suspects and court clerks, when he saw the electrical cables sparking fire with explosive sounds.

A lady judge who walked on crutches also managed to move faster than she ever imagined, making her way out of the courtroom with the assistance of some court clerks.

Judges and their court clerks in the other courtrooms quickly rushed out whilst others who had the time to pack their files and documents did so and sped off. Lawyers who had left their documents behind after rushing out returned to the courtroom to pick them up.

A few minutes later, personnel of the National Fire Service arrived at the scene to extinguish the fire, which had gutted the front section of the chambers of another Circuit Court judge, Mrs. Ivy Heward-Mills, who is currently on leave.

Eye-witnesses said the fire started from the distribution board in front of the judge’s chamber and the cause is yet to be ascertained.

Later, officials of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) came in to assess what might have caused the outbreak. As a result, no adjourned date has been given for the case involving the honourable Member of Parliament, but indications are that the case will resume today, Friday, April 30 due to the way it was suddenly disrupted by the incident.

Earlier, the plea of the accused persons who were charged with conspiracy to commit crime, defrauding by false pretence and stealing was not taken because the facts were provisional.

ASP A. Derry explained that considering the nature of the case, he decided to come to court to remand them and then conclude investigations, in response to a preliminary objection raised by Josh Nimako, Counsel of the accused persons that his clients were only cautioned even though Carlos had been remanded.

Carlos, who spoke only Spanish, had a police interpreter to read the charges to him; but the judge said there was the need to get an independent interpreter to ensure a fair trail.

Presenting the facts of the case, the prosecutor told the court that the complainant, Juan Francisco Lozano, is a Spanish business who was on a visit to Ghana to transact business, while the first accused, Juan Carlos, is also a businessman and the second accused person, the MP for Sene.

He said in March 2010, a certain Nana Kwame Donkor, another businessman had a transaction with Mr. Lozano for his company to supply the latter with gold worth $160,000 in three trances. However after two supplies, Nana Donkor was unable to supply the third tranche of gold and therefore promised to refund the remaining money to the complainant.

According the prosecutor, Nana Donkor contacted the MP to help in the transfer of the money back to the complainant in installments, since it was not possible to transfer the amount in cash through the banks. Two blank cheques were signed and left for the suspects to facilitate the transfer.

The prosecutor said the money was to get to Spain through two persons who were called Ibrahim and Ishmael, and when the complainant sent the money through the account of the two persons in Spain, they bolted with it.

In addition, Nana Donkor paid $30,000 as part of payment to the police for the money to be given to the complainant.

The prosecutor said the MP got his alleged accomplice to go to the office of the Unit Commander of Commercial Unit, ASP Yaa Tiwaa Danso, where Carlos claimed that Mr. Lozano was sick and could not come to Ghana and had therefore instructed him to collect the money on his behalf.

He noted that it was only later after contacting Nana Donkor about the remaining money that the complainant was told that it had been given to the police to be given back to him. Explaining further, he said Lozano contacted the police and was told the money had been sent to him through his friend Carlos.

Counsel for the accused person, Mr. Josh Nimako applied for bail for his clients, saying the MP walked by himself to court and Carlos whose passport has been seized, had responsible persons to stand sureties for him, adding that his clients would always make themselves available to the court as and when needed.

However, ASP Derry said being aware that Hon. Twumasi-Appiah was an MP, he sought permission from the National Security on the case, emphasizing that there was the likelihood of interference in the case if the accused persons were granted bail.