Frank William, a procurement officer, has alleged been lured by one Seth Asafuh, 48 and a businessman to invest GH¢50,000.00 in a non-existent project with the Atoabo Gas.
As a result, the 48 year old has been arraigned before the Dansoman Circuit Court, presided over by Her Honour Halimah El-Alawa Abdul Baasity. on three counts of defrauding by false pretence, forgery of document and possessing of forged document.
Seth Asafuh has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has been granted bail in the sum of GH¢80,000.00 with three sureties, two of them should be public servants earning not less than GH¢3,000 a month and the other must be justified.
The accused was ordered by the court to deposit his Ghana Card at the Registry of the court and report once a week to the police unless otherwise stated.
The prosecution led by Chief Inspector Christopher Wonder was also directed to file all disclosures and witness statements by August 7, 2024, for case Management Conference (CMC).
BRIEF FACTS
Per the narration to the court, in the first week of December 2023, the complainant, Frank William, and his partners as well as a witness in the case were approached by the accused at Adentan with a juicy package of Atoabo gas deal in the Western Region.
According to the facts,the accused misrepresented to the complainant that he was having Ghana Health Infrastructure Priority Project Building Contract from Atoabo Gas through the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and wanted the Complainant with his partners Company, MEJEZ SERVICE LIMITED to be awarded with the Contract.
The complainant and his partners were allegedly informed that the accused was one of the middle men between the Government Officials and contractors.
The accused demanded from complainant cash sum of GH¢200,000.00 for the lobbing of the contract and took a deposit of GH¢50,000.00, which the balance will be paid after the contract had successfully gone through.
Bent on collecting the entire GH¢200,000 – Seth returned to the Complainant with photo copies of the Contract award and Acceptance Letters, accompanied with the names and signatories of the Complainant, two of his partners and the accused.
Attached to the document was a receipt of GH¢50,000.00 deposited by the Complainant on December 15, 2023 into the accused’s Fidelity Bank Account Number 1050436242818, Kasoa Branch, and with account name Setho Express Works.
After the receipt of the contract documents, the Complainant and his partners later decided to enquire into the contract and to their disbelief, it was forged and fraudulent. Meanwhile, the accused was nowhere to found, compelling the complainant to report the matter to Regional CID Accra.
Meanwhile, the accused has denied ever meeting with complainants to discuss any contract with them. He also denied ever entering the Office of the complaint where he was arrested. He has also denied owning accounts at Fidelity Bank where the GH¢50,000.00 was deposited.
