Court convicts employee of Land Valuation Board

Monday, May 10, 2010 (Page 3)

THE Accra Circuit Court has convicted an employee of the Lands Valuation Division in Accra for fraudulent sale of land.
John Alormey, who had pleaded not guilty to one count of fraudulent sale of land was found guilty by the court, presided over Mrs J. J. Bartels-Kodwo after the full trial.
He was found guilty for fraudulently selling four plots of land in July 2005 to the complainant at a cost of GH¢9,500, although he did not have title to the land, which is situated at Ashale-Botwe, a suburb of Accra.
Alormey was accordingly fined 200 penalty units with each unit valued at GH12.00 or face 36 months imprisonment in default.
The court held that the prosecution was able to prove a prima facie case against Alormey.
The complainant is expected to sue Alormey, who has so far refunded GH¢2,300 at the Civil Court to reclaim the rest of the money.
The Circuit Court in 2009 gave the parties in the case the opportunity to settle the matter out of court but that did not yield results.
The facts of the case were that in 2005, the accused person negotiated and sold four plots of land to the complainant.
In furtherance of the sale, the accused person prepared documents covering the land and handed them over to the complainant.
However, the complainant conducted a search at the Lands Commission and found that the documents prepared by Alormey were fake.
It was also detected that all signatories to the documents were deceased.
The complainant, therefore, lodged a complaint with the police, resulting in the arrest of Alormey.
Alormey was said to have informed the police that the land belonged to one Emmanuel Borketey Bortey but could not assist the police to effect the arrest of the said Bortey.