Four remanded for defrauding by false pretences

Four persons were on Tuesday remanded by an Accra Circuit court for defrauding one Nizar Naji Mohhammed Alassaf of $325,000.

Mark Kojo Corny, Aikins Ameho, Richard Obeng Osei and Koffi Amehuon, were said to have conspired and defrauded the complainant of the amount with the pretence of supplying him with 13 kilos of gold.

They pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Counsel for the accused persons, Assistant Commissioner of Police K. K Amah (Rtd), prayed the court to grant the accused persons bail since the facts presented by the prosecution did not represent what happened.

He said the accused persons have been in custody for the past four days and prayed the court to grant them bail, saying they would always appear for trial and would not interfere with the investigations of the prosecution.

The prosecution was however opposed to the bail application.

The court therefore remanded the accused persons to reappear on August 30 for determination of the bail application.

Prosecuting Police Chief Superintendent Duuti Tuaruka told the court that the complainant, Nizar is the General Manager of Comextex Group of Companies based in Dubai, while Mark is Unemployed, Aikins isa Computer Technician, Richard is a Consultant and Koffi is a small scale miner.

He said two other accomplices, Emmanuel Kwesi Dotse and Samuel Kofi Grant Kontoh now at large are both businessmen, and are residents of Haatso, except Koffi, who lives at Omanjor Sowutuom.

He said in June, Emmanuel and Samuel were introduced to the complainant by one Mr Dardi who is based in Dubai as Small Scale Miner, where they told the complainant that they had some gold they were selling and he expressed interest in buying it.

The prosecution said on June 28, the complainant travelled to Ghana and he met Emmanuel and Samuel on June 29.

They took him to Italtec Ghana Limited where he met Mark and together they showed him a metallic box which they claimed contained 11 bars of gold.

He said Emmanuel also had in his hand two bars of metals coated yellowish which they all claimed were part of the 11 bars of gold in the metallic box. An assay was done on the two coated metals and the assayer said it was genuine gold.

Police Chief Superintendent Tuaruka said the complainant was asked by the assayer to go to the accountant who was in another office and pay for the cost of the assay report.

He told the court that, unknown to the complainants the three had swapped the gold which was assayed with some coated yellowish metals and kept them in a locked metallic box and gave same to the complainant.

They took the complainant back to his hotel, Fiesta Royale, where he paid the cash to them. Samuel told the complainant to wait while they deposited the money at the bank and return.

Police Chief Superintendent Tuaruka said after several hours the accused persons were not returning, and they were not responding to the calls and messages sent to them by the complainant.

He said the complainant became suspicious and when he broke the safety box to check the content, he disclosed he had been duped and the contents.

He said the complainant pretended everything was alright and left for Dubai. Soon after he left, Mark and Koffi contacted him again with a different phone number and told him they had some gold and if he interested in buying it. He feigned interest and alerted the police.

Police Chief Superintendent Tuaruka said on August 11, the complainant arrived in Ghana and on August 12, he met Mark, Aikins, Richard and Koffi at Golden Tulip Hotel where he was lodging.

He told the court that after a brief meeting the parties agreed to meet at Italtec Ghana Limited for an assay to be done on the gold.

The prosecution said the police immediately proceeded to the scene, where the accused persons together with the complainant were meeting and they were arrested.

A search conducted on them revealed a similar safety box which was used in duping the complainant and two yellowish metallic substances, which Richard claimed was genuine gold which belongs to him.

He said the metallic box contained undisclosed number of coated yellowish metal which they were to present to the complainant as they did in the first instance.

A further search on their mobile phones revealed pictures of objects which they claimed to be gold they had sent to the complainant and other unsuspecting victims.