Four officers of the Lands Commission, charged with 77 criminal offences, are now facing trial at the Financial and Economic Division of the High Court in Accra.

The accused – Frank Kwame Dorko, an IT officer; Emmanuel Mawuli Bani, an Engineer; Jephther Danso Akyea, a System Administrator; and Cecil Lebene Kwabla, also an IT officer – are facing counts of conspiracy to steal, stealing and money laundering.

The accused allegedly committed the crimes between December 2021 and 2023. According to documents filed with the court, the four officers are accused of creating unauthorised payment accounts to divert funds from the Lands Commission, resulting in financial losses of millions of cedis.

These accounts, allegedly created outside of the official Ghana.GOV payment platform, allowed the suspects to manipulate transactions and siphon funds meant for the Commission.

The case, presided over by Justice Edward Twum, was initially delayed as the accused were absent from the first court hearing.

The court was told that the accused had not been notified of the scheduled date.

It was also revealed that the fourth accused, Cecil Lebene Kwabla, fled to Canada and allegedly deposited an expired passport during the investigation, enabling his escape.

A Bench Warrant has now been issued for his arrest and the court will reconvene on November 13, 2024.

Case Background

The Lands Commission, mandated by the 1992 Constitution and the Lands Commission Act (Act 767), is responsible for managing land transactions, including the collection of Stamp Duties.

Customers in Accra, seeking to pay Stamp Duties, are typically directed to Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) or may pay digitally through Ghana.GOV, a platform that processes payments via mobile money or bank transfers.

Investigations into the alleged fraud began in September 2022, following a petition filed by the Managing Director of Arieli Company Ltd.

The company had reportedly paid GH¢84,000 in Stamp Duties, but the payment could not be traced within the Commission’s records.

This prompted the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) to launch an inquiry, uncovering a sophisticated scheme involving underpayment and diversion of funds by several of the Commission’s employees.

Fraudulent Activities Uncovered

The investigation revealed that several suspicious accounts were used to make unusually low payments on behalf of customers, severely undercutting the assessed Stamp Duty amounts.

Mobile money records, phone IMEI numbers and transaction records linked the accused individuals to these accounts, which were allegedly used to intercept funds.

Notable findings

Mosrear Enterprise: Paid only GH¢8,998 for transactions assessed at GH¢1,329,934.

Daniel Boateng: Paid GH¢423 against an assessed total of GH¢82,003.

Yaw Manu: Paid GH¢304.50 instead of GH¢21,903.

Kojo Kodjoga Enterprise: Paid GH¢3,641 for transactions valued at GH¢303,778.

Emmanuel Bani: Paid GH¢188 for an assessed total of GH¢26,001.05.

Kwadwo Stephens Enterprise: Paid GH¢1,600 against an assessed total of GH¢233,492.50.

The accused allegedly intercepted payments by collecting cash or cheques meant for the Ghana Revenue Authority, underpaid the amount on Ghana.GOV and falsified receipts with the full value for customers.

They reportedly shared the money among themselves or exchanged cheques for cash, with accomplices at Tema port.