The group was led by the former Cheif of Staff, Julius Debrah and included former Attorney General, Marietta Brew Oppong; former Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Sherry Aryitey; former Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare; former Deputy Transport Minister, Joyce Bawa-Mogtari and former Deputy Minister of Communications Felix Ofosu Kwakye.

Also among the persons in the court were top executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), including the Northern Regional Chairman of the party, Alhaji Azooka.

There was also some chaos in the courtroom due to the numbers at the court. This led security personnel to move everyone out of the court.

Some supporters and friends of Dr. Opuni were not allowed to re-enter the courtroom, leading to some verbal exchanges.

The situation was later calmed when police officers were brought in to escort the supporters out of the building.

Dr. Opuni is facing over 27 charges over some alleged corrupt practices during his term of office.

He is being sued together with one Seidu Agongo, CEO of Zeera Group of Companies and Agricult Ghana Limited, beneficiaries of a supposed fraudulent contract worth forty-three million, one hundred and twenty thousand cedis (Ghc43, 120,000).

The contract in question spanned the period between 2013 and 2016.

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By: Fred Djabanor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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He pleaded guilty to the charge of stealing.

Prosecuting, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Ebenezer Anim Ofori, told the court presided over by Mr Solomon Kwesi Alormatu that the complainant Michael Atilaad is a farmer who resides in the same neighborhood with the convict at Sefwi Karlo near Dadiaso in the Suaman District.

[contextly_sidebar id=”JNybsBsE3DzKsEidSZynnSPPmWHxrNK6″]He said the complainant has a cottage in his cocoa farm at Sefwi Karlo where he rears fowls.

According to ASP Anim Ofori, the complainant visits his cottage frequently during the cocoa season, but when harvesting is over he goes there twice a week.

He said in the month of December 2017, the complainant realized his fowls were disappearing and began his own investigations.

The prosecution said on March 3, 2018, the complainant’s sons, Musah Yakubu went to their father’s cocoa farm to search for snails.

While they were there, Musah and George saw that someone had made a fire at the cottage and when the two got closer they found out that the convict had stolen their father’s cock and was preparing soup with it.

They nabbed Jonathan and handed him over to the Dadieso police.

ASP Anim said when the convict was interrogated at the police station he admitted committing the offence in his investigation caution statement.

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Source: GNA

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In presenting their case, Olympics asked for an extension of the injunction period to one month within which the GFA would hear their protest against Elmina Sharks, but that has now been dismissed.

[contextly_sidebar id=”MF4jBC3xQ53kcKiynaDNcrmJoDoEcSeX”]The court said that it had no jurisdiction to rule on the matter as it was an internal matter which should be determined by the Ghana Football Association, GFA.

Great Olympics petitioned the GFA to allow them bring a protest against Elmina Sharks for fielding an unqualified player despite the expiration of the mandatory 72 hours to do so. But the petition was dismissed, forcing Olympics to head to court to seek redress.

Olympics wanted the court to force the GFA to accept their petition which would result in Elmina Sharks being docked points, essentially condemning them to relegation while Olympics are reinstated in their stead.

The GFA and Olympics tried an out of court settlement of the matter, but two meetings between the two parties failed to resolve the impasse.

Olympics have twice brought injunctions against the start of the league, which was originally scheduled to start on the weekend of February 10.

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By: Citi Sports/Ghana

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A third person, 35-year-old tiler, Kwasi Poku, has been sentenced to serve two years in prison and is due to reappear in court.

The three were all convicted  after they pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit crime, mining without authority, mining without license and possession of firearms without lawful authority.

They were arrested on Monday by personnel from the Forestry Commission following a tip off.

The Presiding Judge, Her Lordship, Ms Mercy Addai-Kotei sentenced the accused persons to pay a penalty unit of GH¢2,500 and in addition, serve two years in prison after they pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit crime.

On the charge of mining without a license, Ms Addai-Kotei sentenced Akwasi Agyemang and Yaw Osei to pay a fine of GH¢2,500 and in addition, serve two years in prison with hard labour.

For possessing of firearms without lawful authority, the judge sentenced Yaw Osei,who claimed ownership of the locally manufactured pistol retrieved when the three were arrested, to pay a fine of GH¢1,000 or in default serve 2 years in prison with hard labour.

Kwasi Poku, who pleaded not guilty to the charge of mining without a license has been remanded into prison custody to reappear on March 1.

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By: Neil Nii Amartey Karnaku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Appearing before an Accra Circuit Court, Emmanuel Danquah pleaded not guilty to the charges of possessing narcotic drugs without authority.

The court presided over by Aboagye Tandoh remanded him into Police custody to reappear on February 28, where the court is expected to rule on his bail application.

Danquah’s lawyer had prayed for bail saying his client knew he would be exiting the prison in a few hours after serving a two-year jail term, and would not get himself involved in such an act.

Prosecuting Superintendent of Police, Patience Mario, told the court that the complainant Anthony Ninson, is a Prison Officer at James Camp Prison at Maamobi, while Danquah was a prisoner at the same Prison and was about to complete his sentence on the day he was arrested.

Supt. Mario said on February 9, 2018, Danquah had a quarrel with Nicolas Adjei, an inmate on suspicion that Adjei had stolen his MP3 radio recorder.

Prosecution said during the quarrel Danquah pulled a knife on Nicolas. Danquah was therefore asked to produce the said knife, but he rather brought out a spoon.

According to prosecution, the complainant and another prison officer invited him to identify his box containing his personal belongings. Danquah identified two boxes which were brought out and in his presence, quantity of dried leaves were found in a white rubber in one of the boxes.

Prosecution said Danquah was arrested and escorted to the Kotobabi Police Station, while the drugs were later forwarded for examination at the Police Forensic laboratory.

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Source: GNA

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The two are to serve thirty months in prison after they pleaded guilty to the crime of escaping lawful custody and abetment to escape lawful custody before an Accra High Court on Tuesday.

[contextly_sidebar id=”WrxMQ5yxh2w7g0e4n1p87MC63trh5xqH”]The two, Prince Osei and Atta Kwadwo, were among the seven suspects who were assisted to escape police custody during the attack.

When they appeared before the court presided over by His Honour Aboagye Tandor two weeks ago, the two accepted guilty.

A third escapee who was also arrested, Kofi Darko, had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Meanwhile, the nine suspects accused of attacking the police station, have been also been charged.

The nine, which includes a woman, pleaded not guilty to the charge when they first appeared in court two weeks ago, and were subsequently remanded in police custody.

Background

A gang of suspected armed robbers attacked the Kwabenya District Police Headquarters, which accommodates the Kwabenya Police Station, killing the officer on duty, and freeing cell inmates.

A total of seven inmates were freed, but three of them have since been rearrested.

‘Cop killer busted’

Last Sunday, the Accra Police Command indicated that, it had picked up the man believed to have shot the police officer dead.

The suspect was identified as Kofi Seshie, aged 28.

Seshie was arrested along with four other suspects in the early hours of Saturday at Kasoa, according to a statement from the police.

The statement said these latest arrests bring the number of people detained following the incident to eleven, after six suspects were arrested earlier.

The police had announced a GHc15,000 bounty for any information leading to the arrest of the other four suspects who were freed from police custody by the robbers.

The now deceased Police officer sustained gunshot wounds, and died whilst receiving treatment at the 37 Military Hospital.

He was the breadwinner for a family of seven with the youngest being three years.

‘No mercy’

Government has since condemned the attack on the Kwabenya District Police Headquarters.

Speaking at a press conference, Information Minister, Mustapha Hamid, assured that persons involved in the act will face the law.

“First of all government condemns the criminal conduct of these elements in the strongest possible terms. There is a manhunt for these criminal elements and we have no doubts in our minds that they will be brought to face justice.

“Government takes this opportunity to express its deepest sympathies to the family of the deceased policeman… While this is one of the isolated incidents that have unsettled the Ghanaian population, we wish to continue to assure the Ghanaian people that the security agencies are working to ensure the general safety of the population. The preventive mechanism of the Police Service remains intact which helps to nip such occurrences in the bud before they become full-blown criminal activities.”

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Suspects are to appear before the Court presided over by Mr. Jojo Amoah Hagan on the 21st February 2018 on charges of “defrauding by false pretenses”.

The other four are Aziz Abdalla Achulowor, Amadu Ibrahim, Richard Zawi and Juliana K. Delleh all executive members of Care for Humanity Fun Club International, based in New Jersey in the United States of America but with a branch at Nkoranza.

Prosecuting, Police Chief Inspector John Amaning Kwakye, told the court that complainants in the case were clients of Care for Humanity, a micro finance company.

He said in 2015, the accused made false representations on radio stations at Nkoranza that they were operating a micro finance business that yielded 60 per cent interest on cash deposits for a period of two months.

The prosecution said accused misrepresentations attracted over 5000 people including the complainants and each deposited various sums of monies ranging between GHC500.00 and GHC500,000.00 with the company.

He said after the maturity of the investments, the accused failed to pay the principal sums and the corresponding interest to the complainants.

The prosecution said when complainants visited the company’s offices at Nkoranza they observed that the offices had been closed down and none of the workers were present.

He said complainants then reported the matter to the Police and after investigations suspects were charged with the offence to appear before the Court.

DKM Diamond Micro Finance is a defunct micro finance company.

It would be recalled that in 2015 the Bank of Ghana (BoG) suspended the operations of the above two companies (DKM and Care for Humanity) and some others for flouting the rules governing the operations of micro-finance business in the country.

The action revealed loss of cash deposits by thousands of Ghanaians who had invested in those companies.
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Source: GNA

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Mohammed was arrested when a tracking device in one of the mobile phones led the Police to his hideout.

The Police are on the hunt for his accomplice, known as Yusif, who is currently at large.

Mohammed pleaded not guilty to two counts of robbery when he appeared before the court.

The court, presided over by Aboagye Tandoh, remanded him into prison custody to reappear on February 15.

Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Victor Dosoo said the first complainant Hitomi Suzuki is a Public Health nurse with the Jirapa Health Directorate and Bridgette Adjebu, the second complainant is a caterer residing at Abelemkpe while Mohammed resides at Maamobi in Accra.

He narrated that on January 30, this year, Suzuki in the company of Allen Jiang, a witness in the case, requested for Uber taxi services.

The prosecution said while they were waiting for the car, Mohammed and Yusif, riding an unregistered motorbike spotted them, pulled up by their side, drew out a knife and another sharp implement with which they threatened them and snatched Suzuki’s small waist bag and bolted.

The bag contained one Infinix mobile worth GH¢ 300, 100 Dilham Dubai bills and two Identity Cards.

The Prosecution said when the Uber taxi eventually arrived at the scene they drove to the Dzorwulu Police Post and lodged a complaint.

According to prosecution Mohammed and his accomplice, Yusif had also robbed several people including Bridgette around the same time.

The prosecution said with the help of the tracking device, the Police traced Mohammed and his accomplice and chased them towards East Legon but on reaching the Ghana Standard Authority near Okponglo, Mohammed and Yusif fell off their motorbike.

They then took to their heels with the officers in pursuit.

The prosecution said the tracking device in the mobile phone led the Police to an uncompleted house where Mohammed had sought refuge and was picked up.

When Mohammed was searched, three mobile phones were found in his possession and including Suzuki’s handbag, GH¢ 18.50, 55 Dirham’s Dubai and the two ID cards.

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Source: GNA

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The A-G has therefore requested for the docket and directed that the matter be heard at the Tarkwa High court.

The accused, Sai Yeluri, 28, had earlier pleaded guilty with explanation to the offense and the court presided over by Mr Emmanuel Bart-Plange Brew granted him bail in the sum of 40,000 Ghana cedis with two sureties.

He was also asked to hand over his passport to the registrar of the court.

Prosecuting earlier, Chief Inspector Faustina Celestina Anaman, told the court that, on January 1, this year, at about 1500 hours, the victim’s mother, Francisca Mensah, a businesswoman at Tamso went to the Nsuta swimming poolside of the Ghana Manganese Company with her daughter to have fun.

She said the accused, who is not a staff of Ghana Manganese Company, Nsuta and his friend Karthik were also enjoying themselves at the pool side.

She said the accused and his friend then went for the victim and another girl and offered to teach them how to swim.

Chief Inspector Anaman explained that while Sai and his friend were swimming in the pool with the girls, Francisca decided to video them and later went for the victim and returned home.

The Prosecution said the next day when the complainant watched the video, she noticed that the accused had inserted his finger into the victim’s vagina.

She said Francisca informed the Nsuta Police and a medical report form was issued to the victim.

Dr Joseph Darko of Apinto government hospital examined the victim and endorsed the medical form which was returned to the police on the same day.

The Prosecution said all efforts made by the police to download the video from the complainant’s phone failed.

On January 5, Chief inspector Anaman said the accused was arrested but he denied the offense.

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Source: GNA

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Razak Debbie, unemployed and Lukman Afuwapes, a student, pleaded not guilty and would reappear on February 8.

Superintendent of Police, Kweku Bempah, told the court that the complainant is a designer and a United States citizen.

He said during the year 2014, the complainant visited Google hangout on social media and saw the profile of Razak Debbie with a picture as beautiful young white lady. He sent her a friend request and the complainant accepted it.

He said Razak later sent a love request to the complainant and the complainant gladly accepted and had been chatting with the accused, whom he thought was a lady.

He said the accused told the complainant that, she was an American citizen but in Ghana shortly to enable her take care of a three kilogrammes gold inheritance, which her parents left for her (Razak).

“The accused further agreed to marry the complainant and started demanding monies to take care of shipping documents, plane tickets and alleged High Court fines in respect of the three kilogrammes gold, which he intended selling to the complainant,” he added.

The Prosecution said as a result of that, Razak sent a forged High Court order and Ghana Immigration Service documents to the complainant for payment of court fines and shipping fees of the gold.

Supt. Bempah said Razak started collecting monies from the complainant through forged identification cards, which was in three different names, and received a total cash amount of $87,774.36 through Vigo, Western Union and Moneygram.

The Prosecution said in May, 2017, the accused person realizing his activities were becoming suspicious, forwarded a Societe Generale Ghana Bank account number belonging to Lukman to the complainant to pay in the rest of the money he had demanded.

He said the complainant further sent an amount of $42,831 into Lukman’s account.

He said Lukman after receiving a total amount of $130,605.39 informed the complainant that Razak’s passport has been seized by the Police and therefore could not travel together with the gold to the United States of America as planned.

The Prosecution said on August 25, 2017, the complainant arrived in Ghana to meet Razak, who posed as a lady

He said a report was subsequently made to the Police and on December 21, the same year and Lukeman was arrested.

He then led the Police to arrest Razak, they admitted the offence in their caution statements, and mentioned one Ibrahim Adams Larry now at large as their accomplice.

During investigations, it was established that as a result of these activities, Lukeman received a total of $198,332 in addition to the amount complainant paid directly into his account.

They however could not assist the Police to arrest Ibrahim.

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Source: GNA

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