The Ashaiman District Court has remanded Romeo Atsu, a self-acclaimed house agent and broker, into Police custody for defrauding an unsuspecting man of the sum of GH₵9,000.00. 

The court remanded him to reappear on April 29, 2024, after pleading not guilty to the charge of defrauding by false pretense. 

Inspector Henry Tetteh Nartey, the prosecutor for the case, told the court, presided over by Mr Derick Pardden Eshun, that the complainant in the case was Mr. Clinton Peter, a 24-year-old Nigerian, while Atsu is a 30-year-old and claims to be a broker who undertakes his business online and resides at Soldier Line-Gbetsile. 

The Prosecutor added that on March 5, 2024, the complainant, who needed a room to rent, managed to get in contact with Atsu and place a call to him, who claimed he was a house agent and had two and four-bedroom apartments for rent at Pawpaw house at Gbetsile in the Kpone-Katamanso Municipality. 

He said the accused person asked one Eric Adzorgenu, a witness in the case, to send the complainant to the location of the house. 

The complainant, the court heard, showed interest in the four-bed apartment, which was going for GH₵1,500.00 per month rental, and paid GH₵ 9,000.00 covering six months into an MTN mobile number bearing the name Bismark Ankoh as provided by the accused person as the landlord’s number. 

The prosecutor added that the complainant and the witness were in the said house when the caretaker confronted them and questioned them on their mission there, to which the complainant replied that he had rented the house and even paid GH₵9,000.00 to the landlord. 

This, the court heard, prompted the caretaker to call the landlord to verify, and it turned out that he had not rented it to the complainant nor received any money to that effect. 

The accused person’s phone was called several times by the complainant but was switched off. 

The prosecution said that on March 17, 2024, Gbetsile Police had information that Atsu had been arrested by Diaso Police in the Western Region. 

He was therefore re-arrested and brought to Gbetsile Police Station to assist in the investigation, and he was subsequently charged with the offence.