Issah Kumba
The President of the Coalition of Supporters’ Unions of Africa (COSUA), a civil society group of African sports fans which took centre stage in the recent African Union Commission elections, is in court.
Advocate Sarfo Abebrese, who is a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court of Ghana and New York in the USA, appeared at an Accra Circuit Court as a prosecution witness for the state in a case of stealing and defrauding by false pretence against one Issah Kumba, owner and operator of Sinoband Forex Bureau located in Dzorwulu, Accra.
The accused person is standing trial for allegedly defrauding the lawyer of an amount of € 38,000 (Thirty Eight Thousand Euros).
Chief Inspector Simon Apiorsonu, presenting the facts of the case, told the court, presided over by Her Lordship Afia Owusuaa Appiah that Lawyer Abebrese was induced to instruct his clients, SKM Trade GMB, a German company whom he had represented in many meetings in several locations abroad for the past three years, to deposit the amount, being his accumulated legal fees for the period, into their designated in Dubai under the pretext of paying into Lawyer Abebrese’s Unilegal Consult account in Accra the equivalent of $ 20,000 in local currency, and $ 25, 000 in U.S. Dollars.
The said bank transfer was accordingly effected in Dubai on March 17, 2021 soon after which the accused person went into hiding.
After several visits to the Sinoband Forex Bureau where he met the absence of Issah Kumba, messages were left with his wife, after which Lawyer Abebrese petitioned the C.I.D Directorate of the Ghana Police, who referred the matter to INTERPOL Ghana, leading to the arrest of the suspect.
The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge and was granted bail in the sum of GH¢100,000 with three sureties to be justified.
The case is adjourned till May 12, 2021.
From The Sports Desk