Businessman swindles another with loan deal

A businessman who allegedly collected $50,000 under the pretext of securing a bank loan for another businessman has been granted bail.

The Accra Circuit court presided over by Ellen Ofei Ayeh, granted the 53-year-old Abass Haruna Appiah bail in the sum of GH¢290,000.00 with three sureties, one to be justified.

The court said that the sureties should be people of substance and they must provide valid identification cards.

Appiah is alleged to have told his victim that he was the representative of a Canadian company known as East West Capital Corporation Limited.

The accused person told the businessman that his company was involved in the disbursement of funds to assist in developmental projects.

Appiah pleaded not guilty to the charge of defrauding by false pretense and two counts of issuing false cheques.

The court also ordered the prosecution to file its disclosures and witness statements within 21 days.

The case has been adjourned to September 28, this year.

The facts of the case presented by the prosecution team were that the complainant, Alhaji Makaila Ahmed Akuamoah, is a Chief Executive Officer of a company in Accra and also a resident of Dome Pillar Two in Accra.

Sergeant Thomas Sarfo said the complainant met Appiah in the first quarter of 2018 at Kempinski Hotel and exchanged contacts.

Afterwards, Appiah struck a friendship with the complainant.

The accused after speaking with the complainant realised that the complainant had financial challenges and needed funds to augment his business.

According to Sergeant Sarfo, the accused person with the “intent to swindle the complainant falsely represented to the complainant that he is the Ghana representative of a Canadian Company by the name East West Capital Corp. LLC.”

“Appiah convinced the complainant that when given an amount of $50,000, he would be able to secure a loan facility of $15million to fix the complainant’s financial gap,” the prosecutor said.

On September 5, 2018, the complainant subsequently paid $50,000 to the accused person.

But after receiving the money, the accused failed to honour his promise and forged a bank of Tokyo Mustubishi in Japan letter indicating that the loan has been granted.

The prosecution said checks at the said bank indicated that the letter was fake.

The complainant then started chasing the accused for his money.

According to the prosecution, the accused however, agreed to refund the money on April 2019 and as a result, issued HFC bank cheque with the face value of $50,000 and another cheque from Stanbic bearing the same amount.

He said all the cheques were dishonoured when the complainant presented both cheques to the bank.

The prosecution said investigations revealed that Appiah was not the representative of East West Capital Corp. LLC as he claimed.