The man suspected to have forged the signature of Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah in a multimillion dol­lar oil block transaction has jumped bail.

An Accra Circuit Court has ordered Tonya Abela and Godfred Apesin-aba, the two men who stood sureties for Charles Andoh, to pay the bail bond of GHÈ» 10,000 for fail­ing to produce the accused person they had bailed.

The trial judge, Mrs. Abena Oppong Adjin- Doku, had earlier warned that the sureties risked paying the amount if they did not bring the accused person, Charles Andoh, by July 16,2014.

She said she had been marking time for the two sureties to produce the accused person but they had failed to do so.

"It is the accused per­son I have been marking time for you to produce; I will give you one last adjourned date," she said at that sitting.

"...If you fail to pro­duce the accused person be prepared to pay the bail sum," warned the trial judge who appeared fed-up with the excuse of the two sureties.

Andoh is being tried for allegedly forging the signature of the Energy and Petroleum Minister. The case had seen over three adjournments.

He is alleged to have forged the signature of the Minister ceding oil block, offshore of the south of Cape Three Points, to Miura Petroleum Limited, a subsidiary of Gonguana Oil Corporation, a Canadi­an oil firm.

Even though the com­pany had denied any link with the suspect, Charles Andoh, the Minister insists that Andoh forged his sig­nature in the dubious oil block transaction.

Minister for Energy, Emmanuel Kofi-Buah

Police say since Andoh was given bail on April 17, 2014, he had never report­ed to the police, even though he was asked to report on daily basis.

The suspect, upon his arrest, was detained for two days and granted bail in the sum of GHȻl0,000.

Inspector William Nyadior filed an application to compel the sureties to produce the accused person. After they failed to produce him, they were also arrested and granted bail of GHÈ» l5,000 with one surety each.

Though the sureties were at the trial last Wednesday, they once again could not produce the accused per­son, compelling Mrs. Oppong Adjin-Doku to order them to pay the bail bond.