'Sakawa' case: Hearing May 28

Saturday, May 16, 2009 (Page 3 Lead)

THE Accra circuit court has fixed May 28, 2009 as the hearing date in the case in which a 20-year-old man and his father have been accused of defrauding their victims under the guise of using 'dwarfs' to make them rich.
The young man, Nana Azumbi, his father, Samuel Akambo, 53, and five others are alleged to have played various roles leading to the defrauding of two persons to the tune of GH¢9,360.
Azumbi is alleged to have advertised on a private radio station that he had magical powers to quadruple the fortunes of individuals and succeeded in leading the victims to his father's 'shrine' at Kpone in Accra where they ended up losing their money.
In this particular case, the two and their accomplices, Alex Konadu, Malik Jabir, Kwame Adu Twum, Ernest Darko and Adu Gyamfi, who are all in their early 20s, are alleged to have defrauded a contractor to the tune of GH¢9,000.
Azumbi, Konadu, Jabir, Twum and Darko have also been accused of defrauding a businessman to the tune of GH¢3,600.
Gyamfi is currently on the run.
The accused persons have pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiracy and defrauding by false pretence.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice D. E. K. Daketsey, granted each of the accused persons bail in the sum of GH¢20,000 with two sureties each. They were also ordered to report themselves twice weekly to the police.
In the GH¢3,600 case, the court granted each of them bail in the sum of GH¢3,000 with two sureties each.
The court also ordered the release of the Toyota Land Cruiser which was in Azumbi's possession on the day of his arrest to its original owner, Ibrahim Tawiah, after the prosecution had stated that investigations proved that the vehicle did not belong to Azumbi or any of the accused persons.
The prosecutor, Deputy Superintendent of Police Mr E. Y. Frimpong, also stated that investigations proved that Azumbi did not use the vehicle to commit any crime.
Reacting to a call by counsel for the accused to the court to grant the accused persons bail, the prosecutor said he was not opposed to the granting of bail but urged the court to take the gravity of the offence into account before granting the accused persons bail.
Accordingly, the presiding judge granted the accused persons bail and urged the security agencies to look into the Money Laundering Law.
He further urged the National Media Commission (NMC) to ensure that the media did not propound falsehood in the name of the freedom of the press.
He said the country would eventually grind to a halt if the NMC did not check the operations of media houses which used their outfits to churn out falsehood.
According to the facts of the case, Akambo, who operated from a room at Kpone, was alleged to be the man who mimicked the dwarfs when his son sent the victims to Kpone at midnight.
The room, according to the police, was a beehive of midnight activities when Azumbi and his accomplice father attended to their clients.
The unsuspecting victims were made to pay consultation fees which, when acceptable to the dwarfs, vanished.
The victims, according to the prosecution, were made to produce GH¢500 for the purchase of a special perfume for the rituals.
The accused were also alleged to have conjured wads of money in front of their victims.
When the confidence of the victims were won, the accused persons allegedly found a crafty way of destroying the money, while a bottle of perfume which was alleged to be used to quadruple the money was also spilled.
The victims were then queried for the mishap and thereby made to undergo or repeat the same expensive procedure.