A self-styled Nigerian spiritualist has been remanded into custody by an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly duping a businessman to the tune of US$90,000.
Henritch Amafule in November 2017 reportedly told the victim, Francis Ayiku Otunfuor that he could double his money for him within two weeks.
The complainant subsequently emptied his bank account and handed over US$90,000 to Amufule.
The accused, however, failed to honour his promise and continued to give excuses to the complainant.
The matter was reported to the police and the accused person was arrested at Banoc Hotel at Medie in Accra.
Upon his arrest, the police discovered seedlings suspected to be Indian hemp, cash of $15,900 suspected to be fake, a dead chameleon, two ‘6 and 7’ Books of Moses, eight candles and a trunk which he claimed he uses for incantation.
He is facing three counts of possession of fake currency note, possession of narcotics and defrauding by false pretences.
He pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
His lawyer, Yaw Dankwa, in an oral application for bail, stated that although the suspect is a Nigerian, he has a Ghanaian wife with whom he has five children.
He said Amafule also has landed properties in Ghana and has no reason to run away from his family.
The prosecution, led by Chief Inspector Kwabena Adu, however, opposed the application, stating that the suspect does not have a permanent place of abode and that he was arrested in a hotel room.
He asked the court to remand him to allow the police to carry out their investigations.
The presiding judge, Mr Aboagye Tandoh, held that the defence lawyer did not present any document to the court to prove what he said.
He said he does not want to prejudice the application of accused person and therefore asked the lawyer to make a formal application for bail.
He remanded the suspect into custody to reappear on December 22, 2017 and asked the prosecution to conclude its investigations by December 21, 2017.
By Gibril Abdul Razak