Advertisement

Court remands lawyer for stealing

A Sekondi-based legal practitioner, Kweku Sam Amoah, was yesterday placed in police custody for repeatedly refusing to appear before the Sekondi High Court to answer a charge of stealing levelled against him by the Attorney-General.

Amoah is said to have stolen GH¢154,800 belonging to his deceased client and refused on many occasions to appear before the court to answer the charge.

The case, according to the court, had been called more than 30 times, while three bench warrants had been issued for Amoah’s arrest, the last of which was issued on July 22, this year.

The suspect is said to have been given power of attorney by the deceased client and he continued to use it even after the client’s death.

The court, presided over by Mr Justice Charles N. Agbevor, said it was fed up with the several excuses given by Amoah which had resulted in the multiple adjournments of the case and, therefore, ordered Amoah to be remanded in custody until the case was finally determined.

Amoah is said to have appropriated his deceased client’s money and is still using the power of attorney, although the client is dead.

The prosecution, led by a Principal State Attorney, Ms Patience Klinogo, said the late Mr Isaac Kofi Nketsiah had, in 2010, contracted Amoah to complete the sale of his 10.3 acre plot he had bought more than 15 years earlier and gave Amoah the power of attorney to carry out the deal.

Ms Klinogo said the land was sold to a company in the maritime industry at a cost of GH¢154,000, but Nketsiah died before the money was fully paid into two accounts opened by Amoah without the knowledge of the deceased and his family.

She said after Nketsiah’s death, Amoah failed to disclose the amount to the bereaved family and went ahead to withdraw GH¢78,321.68 from one of the said accounts, No. 00512121302231 in Takoradi.

According to the prosecutor, police investigations revealed that after withdrawing the money, Amoah again went to other relations of the first family that sold the land to Nketsiah and informed them that his client did not pay for the land before he died.

 He said Amoah insisted that his client did not pay the money until the Nketsiah family and the first family that sold the land produced receipts to that effect.

By Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu/Daily Graphic/Ghana

Connect With Us : 0242202447 | 0551484843 | 0266361755 | 059 199 7513 |