Four alleged attempted Fidelity bank robbers gained their freedom on Thursday, 14th April 2022, after an Accra Circuit Court granted them bail.
The GHC6 million bail granted came with three sureties over an alleged attempt to defraud Fidelity Bank Limited of GHC2,100,000. 00 belonging to customers.
Meanwhile, the Court explained the sureties, and in one of the sureties- Stephen Arthur’s, the court ordered that it should be justified with landed property. Three of his accomplices: Nicholas Gyekye, Ahmed Ansah and Daniel Kodzi, were granted GHC5 million bail each with three sureties to be justified with a landed property after they denied conspiring to defraud and to steal the amount.
In addition, Arthur, Ansah, Gyekye and Kodzi are facing the charge of participating in organised criminal group, which they have also denied.
According to the facts on the charge sheet, Prosecutor, Mr Leo Anthony Siamah, told the Court presided over by Mrs Ellen Offei Ayeh that on January 24, 2022, the EOCO Office received intelligence from a staff of Fidelity Bank that some persons were asking him for customer details to perpetrate fraud. The Prosecutor stated that the informant was instructed by the Fidelity Bank management to liaise with the guys to understand what they wanted and intended to do.
The Prosecutor noted that Gyekye was contacted by Arthur, requesting him to help him get a Fidelity Bank staff who can provide bank account details of customers of the bank in order to withdraw funds from their accounts. The Prosecutor continued, noting that the next day, the bank staff was contacted by Gyekye on WhatsApp and phone call, where Gyekye asked the staff to get him bank account details and MTN phone numbers. The Prosecutor said Gyekye disclosed that his friend, one Destiny, has a girlfriend who has been cloning SIM cards for another syndicate involved in the same fraud scheme.
The Bank Staff Agrees to Provide Phone Numbers
The Prosecutor told the Court that Arthur and Gyekye agreed with the bank staff that he the bank staff would provide three phone numbers with huge funds in their bank account.
The Prosecutor averred that on March 28, 2022, the informant gave the accused persons three phone numbers: 059966257, 0256586172, and 0551107747 belonging to Ransford Nana Addo, Ama Ofosu-Kusi Addo and Jessica Eshun Ababio respectively to clone. The Prosecutor added that Ansah gave the phone numbers to Kodzi to clone with the intention of suspects: Arthur, Gyekye, Ansah and Kodzi to steal GH¢ 850,000, GH¢ 680,000, GHC 570,000, respectively from the accounts.
The Prosecutor stated that on Thursday, March 31, 2022, Gyekye sent the informant a WhatsApp message that they have been able to clone the SIM cards through the help of Ansah and Kodzi. The Prosecutor added that Arthur and Gyekye agreed to meet the staff on April 4, 2022, to set up mobile application with the clone SIM cards to withdraw the monies.
The Prosecutor concluded that, while setting up the application at the Achimota Mall, the gang were arrested by the Economic and Organised Crime Officers (EOCO). The four are currently facing charges at the Accra Circuit Court. Meanwhile, they will make their next appearance in a month’s time.
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