EVANS ASIEDU AIKINS & OTHERS v. THE REPUBLIC
2015
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
- MARFUL-SAU, J.A (PRESIDING)
- ACQUAYE, J.A.
- TORKORNOO, J.A
Areas of Law
- Criminal Law and Procedure
- Evidence Law
2015
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The appellants, directors of companies, were convicted of conspiracy to steal and stealing after converting unfunded cheques into drafts, withdrawing funds they were not entitled to. Their submission of no case was dismissed, leading them to appeal. The court confirmed that the prosecution's evidence at the close of its case met the required standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, establishing all essential elements of the crimes charged. The principle that company directors' actions represent the company's intentions was upheld. The appeal was dismissed, affirming the trial court's decision.
TORKORNOO, J. A:
The appellants were charged with conspiracy to steal and stealing contrary to sections 23 (1) and 124 and section 124 (1) respectively of the Criminal and Other Offences Act 1960, Act 29. The 1st appellant is a director of a company called No One Can Know Ltd, also called Evadox Ltd. Both 1st and 2nd Appellants are directors in Virtue Enterprises Ltd. The 2nd Appellant is the son of the 1st Appellant. No One Can Know Ltd/Evadox Limited has accounts with the Nsawam branch of Barclays Bank while Virtue Enterprises Ltd. has an account with Ghana Commercial Bank in Akim Oda and Nsawam. The 3rd appellant is a Data Capturing Officer with the Akim Oda Branch of Barclays Bank.
Barclays Bank granted certain facilities to No One Can Know Ltd./Evadox Ltd which allowed cheques paid to the company to be treated as bank drafts over which the company had immediate access and value, even before the cheques are cleared. This facility was up to GH2,500,000.00.
On 3rd January 2008, when the bank balance of Virtue Enterprises Ltd with GCB stood in the negative, the 2nd Appellant wrote cheques valued at GH¢4,700,000.00, GH¢1,600,000.00, GH¢4,000,000.00 and GH¢1,400,000.00 in favour of No One Can Know Ltd/Evadox Ltd to be paid from the accounts of Virtue Enterprises Ltd. The cheques can be seen on pages 247 to 250 of the Record of Appeal. At that time, Evadox Ltd. had GH¢58,653.87 in its accounts. See page 301 of the Record of Appeal. These cheques were paid into Evadox account through the Oda branch of Barclays Bank.
The 3rd Appellant, an employee of the Barclays Bank in Oda, captured the cheques as a bank draft which would enable Evadox to withdraw the monies before the cheques were actually cleared. On that same 3rd January 2008, the 1st appellant wrote two cheques valued at GH¢3,600,000.00 and GH¢8,700,000.00 respectively to be drawn on the accounts of Evadox Ltd, gave them to the 2nd appellant who had paid to Evadox Ltd the earlier four cheques with the knowledge that Virtue Enterprises did not have the cash to support the cheques. The two cheques can be seen on pages 251 and 252 of the ROA.
2nd Appellant went to the Koforidua branch of Barclays Bank with the cheques worth GH¢12,300,000.00 and withdrew this cash from the accounts of Evadox Ltd. The 2nd appellant was able to withdraw the money based on cheques issued by the 1st appellant because the 3rd appellant had captured the Virtue Enterprise Ltd cheques as bankers drafts on the accounts of Evadox