Businessman in court for allegedly swindling colleague of GHC700,000

Villey Acheampong, a businessman who has been charged for allegedly defrauding by false pretence a colleague has been granted a GHC700, 000 bail by an Accra Circuit Court.

Acheampong allegedly took the money under the pretext of selling to his colleague a six-bedroom building at Baatsona, near Accra.

Unknown to the complainant, Acheampong had already sold the building to another person and had also used the title documents of the said building to procure loans from some financial institutions.

Charged, Acheampong pleaded not guilty.

The court admitted Acheampong to bail in the sum of GHC700,000 with two sureties, one of whom is to be justified with landed property.

The title deed of the said property, the court said, should be deposited at the Court’s Registry pending the final determination of the case.

The trial has been adjourned to April 27, this year.

Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Sophia Asiedu who held the brief of Assistant Emmanuel Nyamekye said the complainant (name withheld) is a businessman who lives at Teshie, Accra.

She said the accused is also reside at Baatsona- Spintex, Accra.

The prosecution said during the month of February 2020, the accused advertised his six-bedroom uncompleted house at Baatsona-Spintex for sale through an Estate Agent, known as Kwadwo Owusu, a witness in the case.

The prosecution said the complainant together with the witness and the accused agreed on GHC820,000 as the price for the sale of the building.

According to the prosecution, the complainant made payments to the accused and some to the witness of which the accused issued receipts for the payments totalling GHC700,000 leaving a balance of GHC120,000.

She said the complainant became alarmed when the accused sent him a message that he has sold the same building to another buyer but failed to refund the complainant’s money.

The prosecution said on October 27, 2021, the Director-General, Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service was petitioned to commence investigations.

She said on November 2, 2021, the accused was arrested and in his investigative cautioned statement, he said that he borrowed the said GHC700,000 from the complainant but he could not give any tangible reason as to why he issued receipts to that effect.

When asked to produce the original documents of the house, the accused failed.

The prosecution said investigations at the Lands Commission indicated that the said land was registered in the name of one Kwadwo Adjei.