A lawyer is in court over a sketchy excavator deal. Divine Effah Dartey, who is thirty-four, appeared in an Accra court accused of helping two other guys scam a businessman out of a huge amount of money in an eight-hundred-thousand-cedi transaction. His dad, a retired captain, got him out on bail.
The other two dudes in court are Mawuli Amenyo, a carpenter, and a warehouse manager named Jiang Tao. Amenyo pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges alongside some guy named Rishan Mahanta, who is still on the run. The warehouse guy got bail, too, while Amenyo had to post a big bond. The judge set a future date for the case.
The prosecutor laid out the story. A businessman from the Western Region named Kofi Boateng wanted to buy an excavator last year. A witness connected him to Amenyo, who said his boss, Mahanta, sold them. Boateng went to Accra and was taken to a heavy equipment yard where Mahanta showed off machines he supposedly owned. The warehouse manager, Jiang Tao, even gave them a key to test one, which helped sell the lie.
Boateng agreed to buy one for over a million cedis and paid eight hundred thousand upfront. Amenyo then took him to the law offices of Nkrabeah and Associates, where the accused lawyer Effah Dartey was introduced as Mahanta's attorney. The lawyer told Boateng it was safe to give him the cash, promising to put it in Mahanta's account. Boateng handed over the money at the firm and got a receipt plus a fake tax form for the excavator. After that, Amenyo ditched him and stopped answering calls.
Boateng later found out the excavator was not even theirs. When he went back to the law office, they said the money had already given to Mahanta. The cops got involved and arrested Amenyo, who allegedly said the lawyer had the cash. Effah Dartey told investigators he passed the money to Mahanta, but cops found out Mahanta was not even a real client of that law firm.
The other two dudes in court are Mawuli Amenyo, a carpenter, and a warehouse manager named Jiang Tao. Amenyo pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges alongside some guy named Rishan Mahanta, who is still on the run. The warehouse guy got bail, too, while Amenyo had to post a big bond. The judge set a future date for the case.
The prosecutor laid out the story. A businessman from the Western Region named Kofi Boateng wanted to buy an excavator last year. A witness connected him to Amenyo, who said his boss, Mahanta, sold them. Boateng went to Accra and was taken to a heavy equipment yard where Mahanta showed off machines he supposedly owned. The warehouse manager, Jiang Tao, even gave them a key to test one, which helped sell the lie.
Boateng agreed to buy one for over a million cedis and paid eight hundred thousand upfront. Amenyo then took him to the law offices of Nkrabeah and Associates, where the accused lawyer Effah Dartey was introduced as Mahanta's attorney. The lawyer told Boateng it was safe to give him the cash, promising to put it in Mahanta's account. Boateng handed over the money at the firm and got a receipt plus a fake tax form for the excavator. After that, Amenyo ditched him and stopped answering calls.
Boateng later found out the excavator was not even theirs. When he went back to the law office, they said the money had already given to Mahanta. The cops got involved and arrested Amenyo, who allegedly said the lawyer had the cash. Effah Dartey told investigators he passed the money to Mahanta, but cops found out Mahanta was not even a real client of that law firm.
