A 54-year-old businessman has been arraigned at the Accra Circuit Court for allegedly swindling a car dealer of four luxurious cars worth GH¢1.78 million.

The four cars are a Range Rover Sports 2018 model; Toyota Tundra 2020 model; Maserati and Range Rover 2018 models.

According to court documents, the accused, Nana Ohene Djan Aggrey Bentil, under the pretext of taking the vehicles for valuation by his bankers, impersonated the importers of the cars and fraudulently registered the four cars at the 37 office of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) in the name of the actual owners of the car without the consent of the dealer and actual owners.

The accused, who is the Director of N.O.B. Djania Company Limited, pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of forgery of official documents, defrauding by false pretence and issuing a false cheque when he appeared before the court presided over by Afia Owusuaa Appiah on Tuesday, April 2, 2024.

Bail application

In his bail application, counsel of the accused, Emmanuel Acolatse, said his client had a fixed place of abode and was not a flight risk. He added that when granted bail, his client would not interfere with investigations and would avail himself for trial.

However, the bail application was opposed by the prosecution led by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Kofi Anane. He told the court that the accused if granted bail, would abscond.

He said the accused was facing criminal charges in a different case before a different court, adding that it was in the course of that trial that the accused committed this new offence. The judge ordered the prosecutor to furnish the court with details of the proceedings from the other court to enable the court to decide.

Prosecution’s facts

Narrating the facts of the case, ASP Anane told the court that the accused on June 13, 2022, called the complainant to enquire if he could get him some luxurious cars to buy. The prosecutor said the complainant, who had some of such cars in his garage, sent an unregistered Range Rover Sports 2018 model which belongs to one Edmund Ohene Kwaku and an unregistered Toyota Tundra 2020 model to the accused’s residence at Taifa and the accused requested to inspect same.

ASP Anane added that the accused then feigned interest in buying the two cars and also requested from the complainant if he could get additional cars for him. He added that the accused then informed one Faud Agoro and he also brought in a Maserati and another unregistered Range Rover Velar 2018 model which he inspected and then feigned interest in buying all four cars.

After accepting to pay for the four cars, the prosecutor said the accused then demanded that before making any payment in respect of the four cars, the complainant must deposit the original documents covering the cars to enable his bankers to evaluate the cars.

ASP Anane said the accused further passed on the same information to Ohene Edmund Kwaku, the owner of the unregistered Range Rover Sport 2018 model and Mohammed Samed also the sales agent for the unregistered Range Rover Velar 2018 model.

Upon the receipt of the original documents, the accused then promised the complainant that he would return the documents upon the completion of the valuation of the cars by his bankers three days thereafter.

Cheques

“The accused then issued eight separate post-dated cheques to the complainant with different face values, with the account name as N.O.B Djania Company Limited, for same to mature and to be drawn on 17/06/2022 and 30/06/2022 at Ecobank and First Atlantic Bank respectively.

“The accused under the pretext of the evaluation of the vehicles by his bankers, impersonated the importers of the cars and fraudulently registered the four cars on June 15, 2022, at the 37 Drivers and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) office in the name of the actual owners of the car without the consent of the complainant or the owners.

“The accused having succeeded with the fraudulent registration of the cars, again forged a transfer of ownership letters in the name of Ohene Edmund Kwaku, the owner and the importer of the unregistered Range Rover Sport 2018 model and Elsrich Enterprise, the importer of the unregistered Range Rover Velar 2018 model,” the prosecutor said. 

Change

ASP Anane said the change was effected and the two Range Rover cars were transferred to the accused person’s company on June 15, 2022. The prosecutor said the accused then sold out the Range Rover Sports and Range Rover Velar which were registered as GC 2239 - 22 and GC 2238 - 22 respectively, to one Hannah Agyei, the Director of Brollen Company Ltd at GH¢250,000.00 and GH¢230,000.00 respectively and transferred ownership. 

“The accused thereafter also fraudulently registered the Toyota Tundra as GC 2224-22 without the consent of the complainant or its original owner and subsequently sold it out to one Chen Wei and equally transferred ownership to Chen Wei. 

“Three out of the eight cheques were cleared and a total amount of GH¢500,000.00 was realised by the complainant,” the prosecutor said.