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RULING
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