Alleged fraudsters granted GH¢150,000.00 bail

An Accra Circuit Court has granted a GHC150,000.00 bail with two sureties each to two alleged fraudsters.

The Court presided over by Ellen Offei Ayeh ordered that one of the sureties, each should have a justification.

Alberta Abi Amartey and Emmanuel Anang Yemoh denied conspiring to dupe Solomon Aubin of GHC90,000.00 under the pretext of selling him six plots of land. They are to report to the Police on Mondays at 1000 hours, for three weeks.

Meanwhile, Philip Addogah, their alleged accomplice, was absent from Court.

They are all to go back to the Court on October 10, 2023.

Police Inspector Daniel Ofori-Appiah giving the facts, said Aubin, the complainant is a lawyer to Power Victory Chapel at Abokobi, near Accra. 

Alberta, he said, was a businesswoman. Yemoh is a plumber and Addogah is the husband of Alberta, living at Abokobi. 

Prosecution said on or before January 21, 2019, the complainant, and the pastor of Power Victory Chapel by name Josiah Aubin, needed six plots of land to buy for church projects. 

The accused persons approached the complainant that they had more than six plots of land for sale at Abokobi. 

Inspector Ofori-Appiah said the accused persons told the complainant that the land was litigation-free and that if the complainant paid GHC 240,000.00, they would sell six plots of land to him for their project.

He said the Complainant became convinced and bargained with the accused persons and in the presence of the church elders he gave GH¢ 190,000.00 to the accused persons after they were taken on a tour of the land.

The Court heard that after the payment, the complainant decided to erect a fence wall around the entire plots on land to ward off encroachers but was confronted by the Brekusu and Akrodey Family who told him that, the accused persons were not the owners of the land and that, they were in court with them. 

The following day, part of the complainant’s fence wall was broken down by unknown persons, Prosecution said. 

He said the complainant informed the accused persons about the confrontation on the land and from that time, accused persons started playing hide and seek with him. 

The complainant, the Court was told, became alarmed that he might have been defrauded since the accused persons also did not give him any valid documents pertaining to the land. 

On September 8, 2023, the complainant reported the matter to the Police for investigation which led to the arrest of the accused persons.

Alberta, the Court was told, admitted the offence in her cautioned statement and stated that, they indeed collected GH¢188,000.00 from the complainant to sell four plots of land to him but they later realized that the same parcel of land was under litigation.

On September 11, 2023, Yemoh was also arrested and he admitted the offence in his cautioned statement and stated that GHC 190.000.00 was paid to them by the complainant but unfortunately, they had used the money to resolve their family issues, the Court heard. 

He further stated that the land was under litigation and they are currently before an Accra High Court with Brekusu and Akrodey Family. 

They pledged to refund the entire GH¢190.000.00 to the complainant but failed. 

On September 20, 2023, Addogah was also arrested and he was also cautioned on the offence leveled against him. 

Investigation revealed that Alberta, with intent to defraud the complainant, was earlier attending Power Victory Chapel but after they succeeded in obtaining the GH¢190,000.00 from the complainant, she stopped attending the church.

In furtherance of that, the accused persons were fully aware that the land they sold to the complainant was under litigation but managed to convince the complainant and the entire church to part with GH¢190,000.00 to them.