Though counsel for one of the accused persons in the absa Bank case is accusing the media of failing to follow the ethics of the profession, the prosecution has given them thumbs up because their reportage helped to get some of the other accused persons who were at large.
The Prosecuting Officer, Chief Inspector Isaac Anquandah, told the court, presided over by Ellen Ofei-Ayeh, yesterday, that because of the reports by the media, some of the accused persons reported themselves to the police.
In the light of that, he prayed the court to adjourn the case for investigation caution statements to be obtained from the accused persons – six in all – to enable the prosecution amend the charge sheet and the brief facts.
The suspects, who reported themselves to the police, are Nicholas Nii Sai, Nana Kwesi Gyimah, Benjamin Adoari, Joseph D. Anim and Othniel Amankwah Dankwah. The police are hunting for five more suspects – Clinton Asamoah, Kwame Owusu Buadu, Daniel Osei, Boadu Nana Yaw Adjei, Ernest Aryee and Isaac De-Here – who are suspected to be on the run.
When the case was first called last week, the prosecution produced the first accused persons, Emmanuel Sakyi Afriyie (A1), Cecil Nyamesem Agyarkwa (A2), Michael Tweneboah Oppong (A3), Richard Akinis (A4), Fouad Mohammed (A5), and Celeb Bondah (A6).
Despite the prosecution’s view on the media reportage, the defence counsel contended that the reportage on the case did more harm than good, especially by putting the accused persons’ names and ages in the public domain.
The counsel also told the court that the media published the images of the accused persons, including video footage. And, on June 6, when the case was first called, they (counsel) were not aware that reporters were present in the court.
The defence counsel argued that in other jurisdictions, accused persons’ names are not published, but referred to as A1, A2, A3, and in that order. He went further to state that some of the media reportage had pronounced the accused persons guilty, which was unprofessional on their part.
According to him, the accused persons were businessmen, and by virtue of the reportage, they may be declined an opportunity to travel outside the country, because the embassies often dug into the backgrounds of applicants before issuing them visas.
He, therefore, urged the court to caution journalists following the case to report accurately on the matter.
The Chronicle, which first broke the story, did not publish any videos or pictures of the accused persons in question.
Earlier, the court, in granting the counsel’s prayer, did not bar journalists from reporting on the case, but urged that only certified court reporters should be allowed in the court room, as well as insisting on factual representation of proceedings.
Currently, 12 out of the 17 accused persons have pleaded not guilty.
Nevertheless, Emmanuel Sakyi Afriyie (A1) is the only one facing all 13 counts.
With the exception of A1, the other 11 accused persons were granted bail in the sum of GH¢200,000 with four sureties each. Two of the sureties should earn an income of not less than GH¢2,500 a month, as well as deposit certified copies of their Ghana Card with the court registry.
The case has been adjourned to Thursday, June 29, 2023, for continuation.
Background
The prosecuting officer narrated to the court that Nana Addo Ampem-Darko, Head of Fraud Detection and Operations at absa Bank Ghana Limited, is the complainant in the case.
According to him, A1 is a resident of Labone, and until May this year, was contracted as Processing Officer at the bank.
He added that Cecil was 26 years old and a student at the University of Ghana, Legon, Richard, 31, a trader, Michael, 25, also a trader, Fouad, 32, a System Administrator, and Caleb, 25, an entrepreneur.
Those at large are; Clinton Asamoah (A7), Kwame Owusu Buadu(A8), Nicholas Nii Sai (A9), Nana Kwesi Gyimah (A10), Benjamin Adoari (A11), Daniel Osei (A12), Boadu Nana Yaw Adjei (A13), Joseph D Anim (A14), Ernest Aryee (A15), Isaac De-Heer (A16), and Othniel Amankwah Darkwa (A17).
He told the court that Al was employed by absa Bank as a contract staff in the month of February 2022, and was posted to the Osu branch as a Processing Officer, whose job description was to assist customers in loan processing, T-bill processing, debit card processing, dormant account activation, and customer account maintenance among others.
C/Insp. Anquandah said due to Emmanuel’s job description, he worked on several accounts, including that of Ekua Ewuduwa Dadzie’s bonus and savings accounts.
However, somewhere in February 2023, Al registered for an online coding course, which the renewable annual subscription fee was US$174.30, equivalent to GH¢2,287.69.
Unfortunately, instead of A1 to pay for the course out of his own pocket, he rather made the payment on Rev Cynthia Patricia Asamoah’s Visa Card on February 6, 2023.
As a result, the complainant and the fraud team of the bank were gathering evidence on the matter to engage Al, but the latter made a swift move to tender in his resignation letter, effective May 31, 2023.
The sudden resignation and the alleged illegal transaction on the customer’s Visa Card by A1 made the bank officials more suspicious to investigate him in other areas.
The complainant, together with the fraud team, made up of the bank’s IT experts, detected that on April 20, 2023 Al by his own machination accessed one of his colleague’s User ID and password to change the contact number on another customer, Ekua Ewuduwa Dadzie’s accounts.
So, on April 21, 2023 Al personally set up an internet and mobile banking access on Ekua Ewuduwa Dadzie’s accounts, using his own User ID and password, after which he had access and started operating on the accounts without the victim customer receiving SMS alert.
Therefore, from April 21 to May 12, 2023, Al with full access to the Ekua Ewuduwa’s account, fraudulently transferred a total of GH¢945,133.00 including charges from the accounts to a number of people.
First and foremost, he transferred GH¢90,000.00 to Cecil’s girlfriend, Rhoda Abena Gransimaa Panyin Quansah’s Cal Bank and Fidelity Bank accounts; GH¢180,000.00 to Richard’s Cal Bank account; GH¢30,000.00 to Michael’s Cal Bank account and GH¢30,000.00 to Fouad’s GT Bank account.
Caleb also received GH¢30,000.00 in his Cal Bank account, Kwame and Nicholas received GH¢30,000.00 and GH¢60,000.00 respectively in their Access Bank and Fidelity Bank accounts, and Nana Kwesi got GH¢90,000.00 in his Cal Bank account.
Benjamin had GH¢60,000.00 in his Ecobank account, Daniel received GH¢30,000.00 in his Fidelity account, Boadu, GH¢30,000.00 in his GT Bank account, and Joseph, GH¢60,000.00 in his FNB account.
All of the transfers were done in tranches of GH¢30,000.00 on different dates within the said period.
On May 9, 2023, from 7:21am to 7:32am, he used another colleague and that of the branch Manageress, Felicia Mackenzie’s Users IDs to change and authorise the contact numbers of eleven customers’ accounts, including the account of late Justice Anthony Kofi Abada, former IGP, late Mr. Ernest Ako, Williams Joe Frimpong, Rev Theodora Baaba Hackman, Esther Marian Hackman and replaced them with only one contact number, 0531668674.
The prosecutor told the court that Al used eleven minutes to complete these process, after which he used his own User ID to set up online and mobile banking for these accounts on May 10, 2023.
On May 11, 2023 Al transferred GH¢50,000.00 from Esther Marian Hackman’s account to Absa account of Ernest Aryee and did the same on the next day, by transferring GH¢50,000.00 each from late Ernest Ako, Williams Joe Frimpong and Rev Theodora Baaba Hackman’s accounts to some other Absa account holders.
The receivers of the transfers were Ernest, Othniel and Isaac. The court was told that Cecil, Richard, Michael and Fouad stated in their respective investigation cautioned statements that Clinton came to their shops to purchase Iphone 14 Pro Max and requested for their bank accounts details and forwarded the same to Al to effect those fraudulent transfers into their accounts.
On May 12, 2023 Al was arrested by the Police in respect of the Visa Card theft and was granted Police enquiry bail to be reporting.
On May 15, 2023, the complainant on behalf of the bank petitioned the Director General of CID in respect of GH¢1,207,017.00 theft detected in furtherance to the Visa Card case.
Interestingly, when Al was contacted to report himself to police, he refused to show up, meanwhile, effort to compel his surety to produce him also failed.
On June 4, 2023, A1 together with his girlfriend Ivy Okertchiri, who stood as surety for him attempted to escape from the jurisdiction to Dubai, but he was arrested at the Kotoka International Airport by the Ghana Immigration Service and handed over to the police.
C/Ins Anquandah stated that investigation revealed that Al, together with his accomplices, within the period of April and May 2023, stole a total amount of GH¢1,209,304.69 from the aforementioned customers’ accounts. He said the police are still investigating the matter to trace and arrest all the remaining accused persons as well as the proceeds of crime.
