Sunny Anwamini
Sunny Anwamini, a Nigerian businessman who allegedly defrauded a Ukrainian to the tune of $6.5 million, and dragged before an Accra High Court by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) on Tuesday, has been granted a GH¢20 million bail with three sureties.
The sureties must be Ghanaians, two of whom must be justified.
The accused has been charged with three counts of altering of forged documents, defrauding by false pretence and money laundering for fraudulently obtaining $6.5 million from one Mazen Farakh, under the pretext of exporting teak wood from Ghana to him in Ukraine.
Mr. Anwamini, according to court documents, had told the complainant who had expressed interest in importing teak wood that he had large quantities of teak wood in a bonded warehouse in Ghana but needed funds to enable him obtain export clearance licence and processing of other documentation from government agencies such as the Ghana Revenue Authority.
“To cajole the complainant into believing his story, the accused person sent photographs of purported teak wood to the complainant,” the document alleged.
Court documents say an agreement for the supply of the teak wood was subsequently entered into by the accused and the complainant, based on the false representation. Anwamini initially demanded $250,000 from the complainant to enable him obtain all the permits and licences.
He allegedly failed to export the teak wood to the complainant upon receipt of the said amount and instead demanded for more sums of money from the complainant to enable him address some challenges encountered in his attempt to export the purported teak wood.
“The accused person, in all, received the sum of $6,500,000 from the complainant between January 2017 and May 2022. The accused person submitted some documents to the complainant which includes a purported Export Declaration Form. The documents were later suspected not to be genuine,” court documents added.
Counsel for the accused, Paul Abariga, pleaded with the court to grant him bail pending the trial, assuring it that he will appear for the trial when granted bail.
He said the accused has a fixed place of abode at East Legon, where he resides with his Ghanaian wife, and also has people of substance willing to stand as surety for him.
Leo Anthony Siamah, who represented EOCO, did not oppose the grant of bail but urged the court to set conditions that are commensurate with the amount involved in the offence.
The court said the physical location of the accused person is to be verified by the investigator before bail is executed, while he is also to deposit his passport and other travelling documents with the registrar of the court, as well as report to EOCO twice every week.
EOCO was ordered to file disclosures and serve same on counsel for the accused. The case was adjourned to August 23 for case management conference.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak