Former New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary aspirant Collins Amoah, who is facing charges for allegedly conspiring to defraud a businessman of GH¢800,000, has engaged legal representation in the case currently before the Accra Circuit Court.
His lawyer, Freeman Ndor, appeared in court today, February 3, 2025, following a bench warrant issued for Amoah’s arrest on January 29 by the presiding judge, Susana Eduful.
Amoah, along with 51-year-old trader Solomon Okuley, has been charged with defrauding by false pretence.
In his submission, Ndor informed the court that Amoah was outside the jurisdiction when the prosecution began its investigations.
He further argued that his client was never invited by the police for questioning and maintained that Amoah was a law-abiding citizen ready to defend his innocence.
Chief Inspector Teye Okuffo, leading the prosecution, requested additional time to review the docket.
However, the presiding judge questioned why the prosecution had filed the case without first thoroughly studying the case file.
Meanwhile, Solomon Okuley, who had previously been granted bail of GH¢1 million after pleading not guilty, failed to appear in court.
This prompted the judge to issue a bench warrant for his arrest.
The case has been adjourned to February 19, 2025.
Presenting the facts, Chief Inspector Teye Okuffo stated that in June 2024, the complainant met the accused persons, who allegedly convinced him to hand over GH¢800,000, promising to use their political influence to settle his GRA tax debt.
Trusting their claim, the complainant, Ababio, gave them the money in the presence of witnesses, expecting the debt to be cleared.
However, after receiving the funds, the accused persons failed to fulfil their promise and began avoiding the complainant.
By December 28, 2024, after months of unsuccessful attempts to reach them, Ababio realised he had been defrauded and reported the matter to the police. That same day, Okuley was arrested.
During interrogation, Okuley allegedly admitted to taking the GH¢800,000 but claimed that Amoah had taken GH¢650,000 for his personal political activities, instead of using it to pay the complainant’s GRA debt.
