THE REPUBLIC v. MOHAMMED BASSAT AND EDEN BASSAT

RULING

Accused person herein stands before the court on one count of defrauding by

false pretence contrary to section 131 of the Criminal Offences Act 1960, Act 29

(hereinafter referred to as Act 29) as per the charge sheet filed 17/5/2022. On the

23/5/2022, accused person pleaded not guilty to the offence after same was read

to him in French, his elected language.

Facts of the case as attached to the charge sheet reads as follows ‘Complainant,

Elizabeth Machal, is a French National and an Estate Developer living in France

whilst accused person Mohammed Bassat A1, is a Beninoise who lives in Benin

whilst Eden Bassat, A2 is currently at large. In the year 2004, the complainant

advertised some apartments on the internet for sale. A1 contacted the

complainant and expressed interest in buying the apartments. A1 introduced

himself as an Estate developer who had investment both in Benin and in Ghana

and further convinced the complainant to come to Benin to work on the

documentation of the sale of the apartments. The complainant traveled to Benin

and met Al and A2 who took her through certain documentation processes. The

complainant was made to pay ten thousand five hundred Euros (€10,500) as a

processing fee to open a Bank account for the transaction. A1 and A2 told the

complainant that they had a bag full of dollars and needed money to work on custom clearance to enable the complainant send it to France with ease. The

complainant transferred one hundred and seventy nine thousand five hundred

Euros (€179,500) to A1 and A2 to facilitate the custom clearance. After paying for

the processing and clearance fee, A1 and A2 lured the complainant to invest in

Gold and real Estate business in Ghana. A1 and A2 made the complainant believe

that they had Gold and other investments in Ghana that could generate huge

returns for her. They lured the complainant to go back to France whilst they work

on the documentation to have the money shipped to her in France. The

complainant travelled back to France and transferred monies through Western

Union and Bank transfers to A1 to finalize the documentation. The complainant

came to Ghana on two consecutive times to meet A1 and A2 who took her

through the business in Ghana. A1 and A2 introduced the complainants to one

Mr Anderson as a business partner who also requested for money to work on the

documentation of the Gold and the real estate business for the complainant. The

complainant paid monies totalin