Teak Wood Saga: Elements in the system frustrating trial – Ukrainian businessman cries out

A Ukrainian national, Mazen Farakh, has decried what he described as an attempt by one Sunny Anwamini, alias Sunny Enyindah Anwamini, a Nigerian national conspiring with some lawyers and personnel of the security service, to compromise justice delivery in the country.

The case involves a fraudulent supply of teak wood by Anwamini, resulting in a financial loss of $6.5 million for Mazen Farakh and his family.

In his quest to secure justice, Farakh, has lodged a complaint with the General Legal Council (GLC) concerning the conduct of two lawyers, John Mark Bekui and Andrew Vortia.

According to him, instead of safeguarding his (Mazen's) interests, the lawyers allegedly collaborated with the alleged fraudster, Samuel/Sunny, legitimizing and approving forged documents.

"Indeed, I came to rely on their advice when they gave me their approval and confirmation of the authenticity of the documents sent to me by Sunny/Samuel. On account of the confirmations and verifications which I received mostly from lawyer Andrew Vortia, I continued to make financial resources available to Samuel Addossi/Sunny Awamini whenever he required any amount of money for the teak wood transaction," he said.

The petition further stated that, "indeed at the time when I first met Andrew Vortia, Sunny/Samuel had requested $250,000 from me to solve the customs documentation problem that Sunny/Samuel said he was facing which was delaying the shipment. Lawyer Andrew at this time claimed to me that he had contacts at Ghana Customs and convinced me to pay the money quickly to help solve the problem. Since this was the advice from my own lawyer, I heeded his advice and sent the money which was received by Andrew, John Mark and Samuel/Sunny."

Background

Sam, 52, was apprehended on Wednesday, July 20 by EOCO in an intelligence-led operation in partnership with the state National Security for allegedly defrauding a Ukrainian businessman to the tune of $6.5 million.

He was charged with three counts of altering forged documents, defrauding by false pretences and money laundering.

The accused, between January 2017 and May 2022, allegedly used forged documents including an Export Declaration Form from the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to obtain various sums of money totalling $6,500,000 from one Mazen Farakh, the complainant, under the pretext of exporting teak wood from Ghana to him in Ukraine.