Police officer, seven others granted GH¢4m bail over $523K gold scam

The transaction involved six Ghanaians and two Turkish nationals (victims).

S/Sgt Akwasi Aning (6th Accused), together with Samuel Adu Kumi (1st Accused), Benjamin Kakpo Addoquaye aka Ketuketu (2nd Accused), Isaac Offei alias Atta (3rd Accused), Benjamin Kologo (4th Accused), and Isaac Tieku (5th Accused), all Ghanaians, have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, defrauding by false pretense, and money laundering.

Samuel Adu Kumi separately denied the charge of selling gold without a license, while Benjamin Kpakpo Addoquaye and Isaac Offei have also claimed their innocence on the charge of corruption by a public officer.

The victims, two foreigners, Omer Topcu (7th Accused) and Mustafa Ceyhan (8th Accused), who bought the fake 10kg of gold from Samuel Adu Kumi and one Abubakar Sadik without a license, have also been charged with “buying gold without a license contrary to Section 99(1) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703).”

They have all pleaded not guilty to their respective charges and have been admitted to bail in the sum of GH¢500,000 each.

Apart from the Ghanaian accused, who were asked to produce two sureties with one justification each with a landed property, the two foreigners’ (victims) sureties have no justification.

The High Court, presided over by Justice Marie-Louise Simmons, has ordered the accused to report to the investigator of the unit that arrested them every Monday at the beginning of every month.

EIB Network’s Legal Affairs Correspondent, Murtala Inusah, reports that the court has ordered all the accused to deposit their passports at the registry of the court as part of their bail conditions.

The prosecution, led by Ms. Selasi Kuwornu, an Assistant State Attorney (ASA), has told the court that they have complied with the order of the court previously and have filed all witness statements and disclosures in respect of the case.

The case has been adjourned to May 14 for the Case Management Conference.

Brief facts:

According to the ASA, on November 24, 2023, the National Security Agency heard that some persons involved in gold trading were planning to scam two foreigners.

She said that on that same day, personnel of National Security followed up on the information, which led them to the second and third accused persons.

The Prosecution told the Court that the second and third accused informed the National Security personnel of their plan to defraud the seventh and eighth accused (Omer Topcu and Mustafa Ceyhan) of Akbn Kuyumculuk Sanyi Ve Tiocaret Anonim Sirrketti, a Turkish company dealing in gold.

The Assistant State Attorney also told the Court that the plan was to serve as revenge for the two foreigners, causing the second accused to lose huge sums of money in an earlier gold transaction he engaged in with them.

She said they also promised the personnel part of the proceeds after the plan was executed.

The National Security personnel decided to play along with their plan and obtained details of the operations, which were scheduled to take place on November 28, 2023.

Arrest:

“On November 28, 2023, the National Security personnel intercepted and arrested the first and fifth accused persons, together with the seventh and eighth accused persons, at the Airport Hajj Road in two Toyota Belta vehicles with registration numbers GR 7820-22 and GE 9954-22,” he said.

The Prosecution said that when the two vehicles were searched, “the arresting officers found and seized a locked metal box containing ten (10) metal bars suspected to be gold.”

“In addition to the box, they also retrieved a gold test report from Benkotec Refinery dated November 28, 2023, and an acknowledgment letter of money transfer to Benkotec,” Selasi Kuwornu told the Court.

Fake gold:

The ASA said the suspected gold bars were taken to the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) office at Kotoka International Airport.

She said the PMMC’s report concluded that the “metal bars are fake.”

“The second, third, and sixth accused persons were later arrested at Afrikiko Restaurant the next day,” she said.

“The fourth accused reported himself to the National Security Secretariat upon an invitation.”

“Investigations revealed that in the early part of November 2023, the seventh and eighth accused persons approached the second accused person with a request to purchase 175kg of gold,” she told the Court.

However, “due to the market price of gold at the time, the seventh and eighth accused persons reduced the quantity to ten (10) kilograms.”

Roles of accused:

In the case of the prosecution, the first to sixth accused planned to sell fake gold to the seventh and eighth accused for US$523,000.00.

According to her, “the role of the second, third, and fourth accused was to procure 10 metals molded in the form of gold bars, with each bar representing a kilo of gold.”

The ASA also said the task of the first accused was to sell the gold and he signed sale documents selling the gold bars to the seventh and eighth accused, although he did not have a license to sell gold.

They also did not have a license to buy gold in Ghana.

The Prosecution stated that the role of the fourth accused was to assay the fake gold bars and issue a report certifying the bars as genuine.

“The role of the sixth accused (Police Officer) was to provide personnel from the security agencies to feign the arrest of the two Turkish nationals along with the first and fifth accused on their way to the Kotoka International Airport.”

Transfer of $523k dollars:

She told the Court that, on November 13, 2023, the two Turkish, through Akbn Kuyumculuk Sanyi Ve Tocaret Anonim Sirrketti, transferred an amount of US$523,000.00 into the account of Benkotec Refinery for the purchase and shipment of the 10 bars of gold.

“This was confirmed with an acknowledgment letter signed by the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 8th accused persons, after which Benkotec on November 28, 2023, issued a gold test report certifying the fake gold bars as genuine,” she said.

She said the US$523,000.00 was withdrawn from the said account and has not yet been recovered.

“The second and third accused persons brought the National Security Personnel
GHS1,000,000.00, the equivalent of US$80,000, which was their share of the transaction, and this amount was kept as evidence.”

“In their investigation cautioned statements, the first and second accused persons admitted to the scam to sell fake gold to the seventh and eighth accused persons with the assistance of the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth accused persons.

“It is based on these facts that the accused persons have been arraigned before this honorable court for trial,” she said.