Abiba Seidu, a 33-year-old staff of Prudential Bank, and her fiancée, Atilley Eli Solomon, a 38-year-old businessman, are facing 10 criminal counts at an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly defrauding a Software Engineer and an importer of a total sum of GH¢255,000.00.

The two lovers are answerable to four charges of conspiracy to commit a crime, two counts of defrauding by false pretenses, and the rest on forgery of official and other documents.

In the intervening time, Ms. Seidu and her boyfriend have pleaded not guilty to the charges and are granted bail to the sum of GH¢400,000.00, with four sureties to be justified by title documents, of which the official originals are to be deposited with the Court Registry till the end of the trial.

On the fact sheet before the court, presided over by Mrs. Susana Eduful, the prosecuting officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ACP) Evans Kesse, read out the fact of the case before the court. ASP Kesse told the court in detail that on July 10, 2020, Abiba requested a loan of GH¢5,000.00 from her colleague, one Derek Prince Mensah, to be given to her fiancée, but the colleague could not be of help. However, Dereck, instead, pleaded with complainant Francis Miah (Software Engineer) to assist Abiba.

On July 13, 2020, Francis met Abiba and Atilley and gave them the GH¢5,000.00. The Prosecutor said, as part of the accused person’s scheme, Atilley subsequently told Francis that Elan Transport and Logistics Limited, a company he owned with Abiba, has a contract with Nana Kwaku Duah and Sons Limited for the haulage of limestone from Oterkpolu to Wangkang Company in Takoradi and that they needed partners who could invest in the alleged business for profit sharing.

Meeting Between the Two Business Partners

The prosecutor further narrated to the court that Francis was later invited to a series of meetings, and during these meetings, the accused persons gave the complainant projections indicating the amount of profit he would benefit from his investment in their company. According to him, based on the projections, Francis expressed interest in the supposed business and was given the company’s CBG Bank account number (030650610001) after they (accused persons) had succeeded in convincing him to invest in their business.

ASP Kesse added that on August 18, 2020, Francis transferred GH¢50,000.00 into the said account as his investment in the company. Subsequently, the prosecuting officer stated that on August 20, 2020, the complainant transferred an additional GH¢50,000.00 into the said account for the supposed business.

The prosecutor also indicated to the court that after the accused persons collected the said amount of monies from Francis, they continued to demand more money from him. However, the complainant Francis Miah could not organize additional money and so, he informed his friend, Paul Sefah, the second complainant, about the alleged business transaction. According to the statement, Paul Sefah also expressed interest in the supposed business after having met Abiba and her fiancée in a series of meetings. Without delay, on September 22, 2020, Paul transferred GH¢150,000.00 into the Elan Transport and Logistics Limited CBG account number 030650610001 on the instructions of the accused persons.

However, the accused persons failed to invest the various monies collected from the complainants in the supposed business.

The Accused Persons Presented Fake Receipts

The prosecutor stated that when the complainants became alarmed and demanded proof that their monies were actually invested in the business, the accused persons presented to them forged Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Value Added Tax (VAT) and National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL) invoice No. 15/9809560 with a face value of GH¢202,601.13, purported to have been issued to them by Nana Kwaku Duah, Chief Executive Officer of Nana Kwaku Duah and Sons Limited, to be taken to Wangkang Company for payment in respect of the business between their company, Elan Transport and Logistics Limited and JAD Haulage Company Limited for the latter to provide the former the trucks to be used in the alleged haulage business.

ASP Kesse averred that the accused persons went as far as presenting to the complainants two forged receipts with serial numbers 0000011 and 0000054, with face values of GH¢25,000.00 and GH¢50,000.00 respectively, purported to be issued by JAD Haulage Company Limited for payments made to the company for the release of the trucks to be used in the alleged haulage business.

The prosecutor told the court that the complainants became suspicious and reported the matter to the police and Abiba was arrested, but her fiancée initially absconded but was later arrested. In his caution statement to the police, he admitted having collected various sums of money from the complainants but insisted that monies were invested in the limestone haulage business through Nana Kwaku Duah and Sons Limited.

They are, however, granted bail pending the outcome of the case at Accra Circuit Court.