By Dorphina Ansah/ Dorcas Appiah
Accra, July 11, GNA- Four persons have been granted a GHS150,000 bail with three sureties each for allegedly conspiring to commit crime to wit, defrauding by false pretense, by an Accra Circuit Court.
The accused persons are Mr Kennedy Antwi alias Emtee, Mr Lawrence Asiedu, Mr Samuel Osei Boateng, Madam Elizabeth Nyarko. The fifth accused person, Mr Golly Bob, is on the run.
They obtain the consent of one Poku Dapaah Afriyie to make a part payment of GHS360,000.00 under the pretext of making him a part-owner of an online lottery business which he failed to do.
The accused persons are facing three counts of defrauding by false pretense which they all pleaded not guilty to.
The Court presided over by Mrs Evelyn Asamoah ordered that one of the sureties of each accused person must be a public servant, who earned not less than GHS2,000.00 per month.
Prosecution led by Detective Chief Inspector Richard Amoah told the court that the complainant Mr Poku Dapaah Afriyie was a Medical Doctor who resided at East Legon.
It said Mr Antwi was a student and stayed in Sunyani, Mr Asiedu was a Radiographer and stayed at Berekum, while Mr Osei Boateng was a Field Officer with Solidaridad West Africa and lived at Awoshie with Madam Nyarko was the girifriend of Mr Antwi and a teacher, stayed in Sunyani.
Prosecution said on November 16, 2020, the complainant received a message on Facebook Messenger from user of account name of “Hon.Isaac Osei Ameyaw” who introduced himself as the former Director-General of Lottery Marketing Companies at National Lotteries Authority (NLA).
It said during their conversations, Mr Antwi lured the complainant to pay money to make the complainant a shareholder and subsequently a part-owner of an online lottery business called CARITAS where Mr Antwi provided documents online for complainant to sign.
It said the complainant signed the document and made him pay a shareholder fee via two different mobile money numbers he provided, registered in the name of Haruna Mardiya and Albert Amponsah, respectively.
The prosecution said Mr Antwi realising that his mobile money numbers were not able to receive huge sums of money from the complainant, he then contacted Mr Asiedu to acquire an already registered merchant SIM that could receive over GHS100,000.00 where Mr Asiedu in turn contacted Mr Osei Boateng, SIM registered in the name Thomas Yeboah Ventures and sent same to Mr Antwi in Kumasi.
It said between November 22, 2020, and May 30, 2021, the complainant paid a total amount of GHC360,000.00 to the wallet numbers and Mr Antwi withdrew same.
Prosecution said the complainant petitioned the Director General/ Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and court order was obtained for disclosure of information on the numbers.
It said analysis on the mobile money statements of the above-mentioned numbers revealed that anytime the complainant deposited money into the numbers, a chunk of it were pushed to MTN number that belonged to Mr Bob.
It said between January 25, 2023, and February 24,2023, Mr Asiedu and Mr Osei Boateng were arrested and on March 9, 2023, further investigations led to the arrest of Mr Antwi and Madam Nyarko in Sunyani.
The prosecution said Madam Nyarko admitted ownership of SIM card and further stated that sometime in November 2020 her boyfriend, Mr Antwi told her that he had a “done deal” and for that reason some payments would be received in her mobile money wallet.
It said shortly after, she received the first two payments of GHS 2,000.00 and she withdrew same for him which she later gave the SIM card to Mr Antwi to be in charge for easy withdrawal.
The prosecution said Mr Antwi admitted the offence and stated that he conspired with Mr Bob, who is on the run, to defraud the complainant and shared the proceeds 40 and 60 per cent, respectively.
Further investigations revealed that Mr Antwi used the proceeds from the crime to established a boutique and a barbering shop in Sankore in the Ahafo Region.
He also used some of the proceeds to build a one room self-contain and an uncompleted four-bedroom Storey building in Sankore.
GNA