Court revokes bail for estate developer, two others
An Accra Circuit Court, presided over by Samuel Bright Acquah, has revoked the bail condition of an estate developer, James Okine and two others for disrespecting its orders.
The court revoked the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) bail yesterday, for James Okine and Stephen Okutu Kofi, alias Kofi Santoe and Benjamin Djanker, aka Asaa and remanded them into police custody when they appeared before him.
This was after the Court was informed by Inspector Da Costa Bobie Ansah, holding brief for Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maxwell Oppong, that the accused persons had not been reporting to the police as it (Court) had ordered.
The estate developer, Mr Okine and the two others, together with Abubakar Issah (unemployed), Kamasah Yeboah and Ali Amadu, both caterpillar operators, have been accused of conspiracy to commit a crime and unlawful protection of land.
They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges, and the case,adjourned to March 28, 2023.
ASP Oppong told the court that the complainant, Godrich Ardey, a businessman, resided at Katamanso, while the accused persons resided at Zenu-Ashaiman, Teiman and Oyibi, respectively.
He told the court that two others, Stephen Okutu Kofi, alias Kofi Santos, and Benjamin Djanker, aka Asaa, who should be standing trial with the accused persons, were on the run.
The prosecution said on January 3, 2023, the complainant reported to the police that his family owned 1.625.474 acres of land at Katamanso with a land title certificate covering the said land.
It said in addition to the land title certificate, the complainant also had a Power of Attorney from his family to back his claims.
The prosecution said investigations by the police indicated that the complainant’s family had the said land in possession for several decades.
It also said that the family had leased portions of the land to some estate companies that had built houses on the land without any challenges.
The prosecution said that Mr Okine, the first accused and owner of Greenlake Estate, had allegedly recruited land guards on the land, who protected him (Mr Okine) and his workers, while they were unlawfully grading the land to commence development.
It said on January 5, 2023, the police visited the scene with the complainant and found Yeboah and Amadu using a pay loader machine to grade the complainant’s family land under the protection of Issah, Okutu and Djanker, allegedly.
The prosecution said Yeboah and Amadu were arrested and during investigation, Okine followed up and was also arrested for investigation, while efforts were being made to arrest the two other accused persons.
Source: GNA