Two Nigerians freed for want of prosecution

Accra, March 29, GNA - An Accra Circuit Court on Thursday discharged two Nigerians who were standing trial on fraud charges, for want of prosecution.

This followed a submission by the prosecution that the complainant, a Tanzanian, had lost interest in the case, and for that matter had not been coming to court.

Accordingly, the court, presided over by Mr Justice Frank Manu, a High Court Judge with an additional responsibility on the case as a Circuit Court Judge, discharged the two Nigerians. On their first appearance in court on September 27 of last year, Prince Roger Anoh, 43, and Ladipo Alex, 40, pleaded not guilty to three counts of conspiracy to defraud, defrauding by false pretences, and printing of fake currency.

The prosecution told the court that on September 19, Roger and Ladipo succeeded in collecting a total amount of 25,000 dollars from Mrs Rosalia Rutakosa, a Tanzanian, under the pretext of giving her a purported three million dollars she had won in lottery. According to the prosecution, Mrs Rutakosa arrived in Ghana the previous day in the company of her husband and brother, after she had received an e-mail message that she had won lotto from a United-Kingdom based Lotto Company called Sky Lotto Company.

The prosecution said after the three Tanzanians had passed the night at a hotel in Accra, the two Nigerians picked them to their office in West Legon.

The prosecution stated that, while at the office, the two Nigerians instructed Mrs Rutakosa to sign a document purported to be coming from the Bank of Ghana, after which she was made to pay 20,000 dollars, and an additional 5,000 dollars, as administrative fees. According to the prosecution, after initialling the Bank of Ghana document, Mrs Rutakosa became suspicious, and reported the matter to officials of the bank.

The prosecution said Mrs Rutakosa subsequently made a formal complaint to the police, who on searching the office of the Nigerians, found a steel trunk containing 65 bundles of fake United States Currency, purported to be the three million dollars the Tanzanian was to receive as her lottery prize.

After further investigations, the police charged the two Nigerians and put them before court for prosecution.