Two Nigerian businessmen in court over alleged $20,000 fraud

Two Nigerian businessmen who allegedly defrauded a colleague of $20,000 (GHC 336,000 cedis) have appeared before the Dansoman Circuit Court. 

Patrick Piniki, 57, and Adawale Julius, 52, are alleged to have collected the money from the complainant under the pretext of securing him a vessel loaded with crude oil from Nigeria. 

Charged with conspiracy to commit crime and defrauding by false pretences, Piniki and Julius pleaded not guilty. 

The court, presided over by Halimah El-Alawa Abdul Basit, admitted each accused person to bail in the sum of GHC 200,000 with three sureties, who are to be public servants earning GHC3,000 a month. 

The sureties must leave within the jurisdiction of the court and the accused are to report once every two weeks to the police. 

“Accused persons must deposit their identification card with the court’s registry,” the court said. 

However, they were unable to meet the bail conditions, hence their bail terms were varied when sitting resumed on Monday. 

Each have been admitted to a bail in the sum of GHC 200,000 with three sureties who are to be public servants earning GHC 2,000 a month. 

“All sureties must be justified and all other conditions applied.” 

The matter has been adjourned to April 2, 2025. 

Meanwhile a third accused person, whose name was given as Engineer Chidi, is at large.  

Chief Inspector Christopher Wonder told the court that the complainant, Sawine Menual, was a resident of Kasoa in the Central Region. The accused persons resided at Tema. 

In November 2024, the complainant wanted to venture into the crude oil business and contacted Piniki through a friend known as Olowo, who had experience in the oil business. 

Prosecution said Piniki contacted Julius in Nigeria and they both came to Ghana after settling on the oil business with the complainant. 

The complainant met the accused persons in Tema and they lodged in a hotel where they held several meetings. 

During the meeting, they promised the complainant to secure a vessel of crude from Nigeria and asked him to pay $10,000 to Engineer Chidi, who was his friend and a manager of a vessel. 

The prosecution said Engineer Chidi also arrived in Ghana and assured the complainant about the arrival of the vessel in the shortest possible time. 

The accused persons again demanded that an additional $10,000 be paid for “the loading of the vessel,” which the complainant did with the hope that the transaction had been successful, but it turned out to be false.   

In all, the complainant paid $20,000 (GHC336,000-cedi equivalent). 

When he confronted the accused persons to refund his money, they only refunded $3,200, leaving a balance of $16,800. 

Prosecution said in December 2024, Engineer Chidi left for Nigeria without informing the complainant. 

After fruitless efforts to retrieve his money, the complainant reported the matter to the police at the Accra Regional Command, which led to the arrest of Piniki and Julius. 

In their investigation caution statement, Piniki denied any wrongdoing, but Julius admitted that he and others collected money for crude oil business, but it did not materialise.