January 27, 2011 (Page 3 Lead)
THE judge presiding over the case involving a lawyer and two others allegedly involved in money laundering activities has given the prosecution in the case a one-week ultimatum to start prosecuting the case.
According to Mr Justice John Ajet-Nasam, the court would advise itself should the prosecution fail to abide by the court’s directive.
Charles Owusu Juanah, a lawyer, Dr. Victor Amoah, an Agronomist and Nana Kwaku Agyei, a miner were first arraigned before the Financial Division of the Fast Track High Court on January 19, 2012, charged with two counts of conspiracy and aiding and abetting money laundering activities.
They pleaded not guilty to the offences. Charles and Victor were each granted bail in the sum of $4 million with three sureties each, one each to be justified.
Although, Victor managed to meet the bail terms, Charles could not and that prompted his lawyers to plead with the court at its sitting in Accra today to vary the bail terms.
According to one of the defence lawyers for Charles, Mr George Heward-Mills, the accused person had been in custody for two weeks already with his passport confiscated thereby making it impossible for him to leave the jurisdiction.
He said the bail condition was a great burden on his client and accordingly prayed the court to review the bail conditions for Charles.
Following counsel’s plea, the court reviewed the bail terms and granted Charles bail in the sum of $4 million with three sureties, one to be justified.
The court directed the accused person to deposit a land title deed worth $2.5 million instead of $4 million with the registrar of the court as justification.
He and the other accused persons were also directed to report daily to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).
Nana Kwaku Agyei, who was remanded on the last adjourned date was today granted bail in the sum of $4 million with three sureties.
His lawyer, Mr Joseph Turkson, produced a medical report to prove that his client was not well.
An Assistant State Attorney, Mr. Edward Cudjoe, renewed his bail application and prayed the court to grant his client bail on terms he could meet.
The court granted Agyei bail and indicated that the court will review the condition based on his health condition
The accused persons are being accused of allegedly obtaining, through money laundering activities, an amount of $3.5 million.
Juanah, who is alleged to be the principal architect, is said to have collected the $3.5 million from the GT Bank headquarters at about 9:45 p.m. on November 17, 2011 after luring a Dubai-based businessman, Mohammed Shafiq, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Jampur Group, and his agents into the country to establish business dealings in gold.
The prosecution said when Mr Shafiq and his agents arrived in Ghana, they were told that the gold had been lodged in a vault at the SG-SSB Bank and were made to pay $3.5 million before it would be released.
It said the money was lodged in an account at the Abeka branch of the GT Bank and the alleged gold subsequently handed over to the buyers.
The prosecution further stated that when Mr Shafiq and his agents decided to verify the authenticity of 135 kilogrammes of gold after it had been delivered, only 5 kilogrammes was found to be authentic.
It said when Mr Shafiq and his agents complained and threatened to lodge a complaint with the police, Juanah allegedly warned them not to dare, as they would be incarcerated for transacting an illegitimate business as illegal immigrants.
It said Mr Shafiq and his agents quickly left the country for Dubai and were advised to lodge a complaint with the National Security, which referred the matter to EOCO.
According to the prosecution, investigations had so far revealed that Juanah drafted the contract agreement for the transactions, acted as solicitor to both the buyer and the seller, while Amoah, a friend of Juanah and Amoah, acted as consultant to Mr Shafiq and his agent.
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