Five persons in court for defrauding by false pretense, abetment of crime

Five persons are standing trial at the Ashaiman Circuit Court for conspiracy to commit crime, namely; defrauding by pretence contrary to section 131(1) of the criminal offenses Act 1960,(Act 29).

The court presiding Judge, His Honour Simon Gaga found the accused persons A1, Godfred Peject, A2, Millicent Ameyaw Peject, A3, Ernestina Asamoah, A4, Alex Danquah Smith, A5, Bismark Nartey and A6, Eric Ofosuhene were further charged on count2 with the offence of defrauding by false pretence, contrary to section 131 (1) of the criminal offences Act 1960,(Act29) and count 3 with abetment of crime namely, defrauding by false pretence contrary to sections 20(1) and section 131(1) of the criminal offenses Act, 1960(Act 29), dound the accused guilty. Before the court, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, and A6 pleaded guilty on counts 1,2, and 3. Godfred Peject and Millicent Ameyaw Peject were both granted bail to the sum of GHS900.000 with two sureties each, both of whom should be justified with landed property. Ernestina Asamoah was granted bail to the sum of GHS400,000 with two sureties one of whom should be justified with a landed property. Alex Danquah Smith and Bismark Nartey were both committed to GHS400,000 each with two sureties, one of which should be justified with a landed property. However, Eric Ofosuhene was committed to a GHS50,000 bail with two sureties, one of whom should be justified with a landed property. The court further ordered the prosecution to file witness statements before the next adjourned date. The case is adjourned to May 10, 2023, for Case Management Conference(CMC). Prosecution: ASP Ernest Kwofie presenting D/SGT Timothy Awudi-King Investigative case told the court that the complainant, Ernest Kweku Donkor, is the Operations Manager of Adepa Fishing Harbour and resides at Gbetsile, a suburb of Kpone. Witness Naa Ayeley Armah is the Managing Director of Adepa Fishing Company, Tema. The accused persons Godfred Peject(A1) and Millicent Ameyaw Peject(A2) are couples and live in Ashaiman New York. Ernestina Asamoah(A3), Alex Danquah Smith(A4), and Bismark Nartey(A5) are the marketers, Stock Managers, and cashiers respectively of Adepa Fishing company. Eric Ofosuhene (A6) is a fish broker at Tema Fishing Harbour and a resident of Bankuman, a suburb of Tema Newtown. On September 5, 2022, at 7:00 pm, the complainant came to the Tema Fishing Harbour Police station with eight photocopies of electronic cash pay-in slips from Agricultural Development Bank(ADB), Koforidua branch, with a total face value of GHS996,350 dated between 15 July 2022 and 19 August 2022 and reported that someone posing as Charles Amankwah, used the said pay-in slips, claiming to have paid these monies into the company's bank account and was supplied assorted frozen fish by A3, A4, and A5. Investigation disclosed that on 12 July 2022, Godfred Peject sent Eric Ofosuhene to meet Ernestina Asamoah to obtain the list of products, prices, and bank and bank details of Adepa Fishing Company. Eric Ofosuhene thereafter contacted Ernestina Asamoah who gave him the details as requested by Godfred Peject. On 15 July 2022, Godfred Peject called Ernestina Asamoah and represented to her that he had made a cash deposit of GHS142,500 to the ADB account of the company and sent a copy of an electronic pay-in slip through her WhatsApp. A3, A4, and A5 without confirmation from the bank and conferring with the managing director which had been the standard operating procedure of the company, proceeded and supplied frozen foods of the company to A1 to the value of the alleged payment. The same modus operandi was used by A1 on six different occasions to get A3, A4, and A5 to supply assorted frozen fish and meat. On one of the occasions, A2 was the one who called A3 and sent one of the electronic pay-in slips to A3, A4, and A5 who as usual ignored all the internal standard procedures and supplied products of the company to A2. It was detected that the total fish and meat supplied to A1 and A2 over the period was GHS996,350. On 1 September 2022, the internal auditor detected that the monies which A1 claimed to have paid into the company's accounts did not reflect in the accounts. Investigations further revealed that the ADB Koforidua branch does not undertake electronic paperless transactions and for that matter, all the electronic payment slips were fake. It was further detected that A3, A4, A5, and A6 received cash payments from A1 after they facilitated the commission of the crime. A1 and A2 were traced and arrested and A6 identified A1 as the one who sent him to A3. During the investigation, A1 admitted to the crime and mentioned Francis Narh as his accomplice who has their booty. After investigations, the accused persons were charged as indicated on the charge sheet whilst efforts are being made to get Francis Narh arrested.