Court discharges accused persons in money laundering case
A Fast Track High Court (Financial Division) in Accra, on Monday discharged Charles Owusu Juanah, a lawyer, and Dr Victor Amoah, an agronomist, on trial for money laundering.
This followed the death of the third accused, Nana Kweku Agyei, a miner, who passed away on Sunday, May 20.
Counsel for the deceased, Mr Joseph Turkson, said he (Turkson) received a phone call from the relatives of his client informing him of his demise.
Mr Edward Cudjoe, counsel for the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) told the court that “Due to the nature of the case, if one of the accused persons is dead, then we have to withdraw the old charges and prefer new charges against them.”
The court presided over by Mr Justice John Ajet-Nasam, discharged the other two accused persons and dismissed the case.
Other defence counsels in the case were Mr Thadeus Sory, Mr Ellis Owusu Fordjour and Mr George Heward Mills.
The three accused persons appeared before court on January 19, 2012, on three counts of conspiracy, aiding and abetting money laundering activities.
They pleaded not guilty, and each was granted $4 million bail with three sureties each to be justified.
They were alleged to have lured a Dubai-based businessman, Mohammed Shafiq, Chief Executive Officer of Jampur Group, and his agents into the country to establish gold business.
The prosecution said when Mr Shafiq and his agents arrived in Ghana, they were told that gold had been lodged in a vault at the SG-SSB Bank, and they were made to pay $3.5 million before it could be released.
At the last sitting on March 21, 2021, Mr Justice Ajet-Nasam said: “If on the next adjourned date, May 21, 2012 the prosecution does not give tangible reasons why the matter should not be heard, the court would have no option but to discharge the accused persons.”
He expressed regret that the country had not been able to prosecute a single money laundering case, and that the situation did not augur well for the country’s image.
Mr Justice Ajet-Nasam made the remark when Ms Diana Adu Anane, Counsel for EOCO, told the court that the Attorney General’s Department had begun investigations into some aspects of the matter.
Ms Anane requested for a 60-day adjournment, which the court obliged but with reservations.
The court had, on several occasions, expressed misgivings over delays by the prosecution in prosecuting the matter, and said that it would not countenance any further delay.
Mr George Heward-Mills, one of the defence lawyers, expressed worry about the persistent adjournments of the case at the instance of the prosecution, which according to him had a psychological and tortuous effect on accused persons.
He prayed the court to discharge the accused persons, so that when the prosecution was ready, hearing notices could be issued to them to attend court.
“The present development of continuous adjournment is an embarrassment to all of us,” he said.
Source: GNA