GPHA staff remanded over alleged US$500,000 tugboat theft
An Adenta Circuit Court has remanded a staff member of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority into police custody over the alleged theft of a tugboat valued at US$500,000.
The accused, Prince Edwin Brem, 47, who is also a businessman, has been charged with defrauding by false pretences and forgery of stamps. The court is expected to take his plea on the next adjourned date.
When the case was called last Thursday, Brem was absent, prompting the court to issue a bench warrant for his arrest. He later appeared before the court and was remanded into lawful custody by the presiding judge, Ms Angela Attachie.
Chief Inspector Maxwell Lanyo is leading the prosecution.
The prosecution told the court that the complainant, Mr Kofi Kuwada, a resident of Aflao in the Volta Region, is the owner of the tugboat, MV Ebenezer, while Brem resides at Tema Community Two.
According to the prosecution, on September 1, 2025, at about 0840 hours, Kuwada reported the matter to the Tema Fishing Harbour Police Station and presented a ship charter agreement. He alleged that Brem, on November 14, 2024, presented himself as a director of a company known as Clearsail Shipping International Management Limited.
The court heard that Brem entered into an agreement to charter the tugboat, valued at US$500,000, for a period of three months. However, the charter period expired on February 24, 2025, and the vessel was not returned to its owner.
The prosecution said Brem signed the charter agreement and stamped it with what he claimed was the official company stamp, thereby creating the impression that he had lawful authority to act on behalf of the company.
All efforts by Kuwada to retrieve the tugboat proved unsuccessful, leading to a formal complaint to the police.
Investigations, according to the prosecution, led police to engage Mr Boniface Acheampong, a director of Clearsail Shipping International Management Limited, who stated that neither he nor the other director had authorised Brem to sign the agreement. Mr Acheampong further indicated that the stamp used by Brem was neither sanctioned nor recognised by the company.
On September 5, 2025, Brem reported to the Tema Police, where he was arrested.
During investigations, the prosecution said Brem admitted chartering the tugboat and promised to return it but failed to do so.
Police intelligence later revealed that the tugboat was in Guinea-Bissau. While arrangements were being made for its return to Ghana, Brem allegedly ordered the vessel, without the complainant’s consent and contrary to police directives, to sail to The Gambia and subsequently to North American waters.
“It has become clear that the accused has no intention of returning the boat to the owner,” the facts before the court stated.
