Two alleged impersonators of Mr Samuel Okudzetu Ablakwa, Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, have been granted bail by an Accra High Court.
Promise Ahorgah. a phone repairer and Kwaotse Mawuli, a construction laborer, were admitted to bail in the sum of GHC50,000 each with two sureties one to be justified.
The two accused persons have been accused of defrauding by false pretenses by creating a social media account in the name of the MP to solicit for funds for flood victims following the spillage of the Akosombo and Kpong Dam.
They are facing additional charges of charlatanic advertisement and falsely pretending to be a public officer.
The accused persons have denied the offences.
The accused persons through their counsel had put in bail applications before the court presided over by Mrs. Lydia Osei Marfo.
The prosecution from the Attorney General Department opposed the grant of bail .
The court, in granting the accused person bail, ordered them to be reporting to the police every fortnight (Fr
idays).
It also directed the accused persons to deposit copies of their Ghana cards with the Registry of the Court.
The case has been adjourned to March 14, 2024.
The case of the prosecution is that the MP for North Tongu is the complainant in the case.
The prosecution said that following the Akosombo and Kpong dam spillage and the flooding of certain parts of the Volta Region, the complainant developed a flyer with inscription ‘North Tongu MP’s Disaster Donation Drive,’ with a short code 71375# Requesting good Samaritans to donate in aid of the flood victims.
The prosecution said Ahorgah and Mawuli, who allegedly intended to defraud, took copies of the complainant’s flyer on Facebook, modified the flyer, and inserted their respective phone numbers in the modified flyer.
It said the accused persons held themselves out as the complainant and causing the general public to wrongly believe they were the complainant.
Additionally, the prosecution said the two accused persons published the fake and deceitful
flyers on social media platforms requesting the public to make cash donations into their mobile phone numbers.
The court heard that the accused persons used the names and photographs of the complainant to create several social media accounts, personated the MP and communicated with several people to solicit donations into their mobile money accounts.
The prosecution said through their acts of personation and publication of deceitful advertisement with the intent to defraud, they succeeded in getting various monies from the public.
The prosecution said the complainant, who found the fake flyer on social media, petitioned the National Signals Bureau, and the accused persons were nabbed.
The two accused persons during interrogation admitted to the offences, the prosecution said.
Source: Ghana News Agency