Ghana Legal Council restores Lawyer Juanah’s licence

The Ghana Legal Council has restored the licence of Mr Charles Owusu Juanah, the legal practitioner whose practice was frozen in 2011 following accusations of fraud and money laundering in a gold deal involving two foreign businessmen and their Ghanaian counterparts.

Lawyer Juanah, also a businessman, who runs a  law firm, K-San Law Firm, in Accra, was freed after the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) discontinued their claims into the allegations for lack of evidence and consequently the dismissal of the case by the Accra High Court.

His practice was suspended following accusations that he was practising the legal profession without the requisite legal education and professional qualification.

But he was exonerated after checks at the universities he attended, as well as the institution in the United Kingdom which called him to the bar. 

Juanah is a graduate of Bebeck College and the University of London, where he completed his LLB and LLM degrees respectively, and subsequently went to the Inns of Court School of Law for his professional law degree. 

Recounting the events that led to the suspension of his licence in an interview with the Daily Graphic, Mr Juanah said some time in 2010,  he was introduced to Chris Rogers by Jeremy Wilson, his client, who told him that he had  some friends who were desirous of  establishing a gold  business in Ghana.

“It was during the meeting with Rogers that I had a brief to register the company, which was to be known as Jampur Interservices Limited, with an objective to sell gold,” he said.

“I did what the law required and took steps to register the company and ensured that it was duly registered in Ghana and had all that was involved to get the company registered as a legal entity,” he added.

According to him, a month later, Rogers and Mohammed came to tell him that they had identified some Ghanaians who had gold to sell, for which reason an appointment was booked to meet Nana Kweku Adjei, Nana Owusu and two others who were said to be in possession of the gold.

“In fact, I must say that I had never met those people before and during the discussions Mohammed stated that he was ready to buy 350 kilos of gold from Nana Adjei at $38,000 per kilo. I had a problem with the deal because from my own search at the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC), a kilo of gold attracted $60,000,” Lawyer Juanah stated.

He said a sales and purchase agreement was drafted for the deal and subsequently it was agreed that  since the gold was in the form of dust, Shafiq and his partners from Dubai, Rehan Ballast, Mohammed and Victor Amoah should witness the smelting and testing of the gold dust  into bars and their transportation to the PMMC for final assaying  before Shafiq parted with the agreed sum of $3.5 million as part payment of the $9.8 million being the total cost of the gold. 

It was agreed that the balance of $6.3 million  be paid to Nana  Agyei when all the gold was transferred to Dubai, where the final assaying would be conducted at a gold refinery in the presence of an agent appointed by Nana Adjei.

He said in the course of the negotiations, Shafiq decided that he would pay $1 million as part-ayment of the $3.5 million earlier agreed to affirm their interest in the deal.

He said in spite of all his objections against that new twist, Shafiq remained adamant, saying he would do what pleased him and that he (Juanah) remained only legal counsel. 

Shafiq, he continued, later paid Nana Adjei $1 million from GT Bank via Internet instructions and a receipt issued by Nana Adjei to Rehan Ballast, the agent to Shafiq.

According to Lawyer Juanah, a disagreement arose between Nana Adjei and Shafiq over the transportation of the gold from the vault.

He said both parties finally agreed to vary the terms of purchase following a delay by Shafiq to transfer another $2.5 million from the GT Bank. They agreed with  Shafiq to reduce the quantity from $9.8 million to $6.3 million.

“However, the next morning, while having breakfast with a friend at the African Regent Hotel, I received a call from Victor Amoah that the gold they took to the PMMC  contained only five kilos of  pure gold, with the rest being brass,” he stated.

Lawyer Juanah revealed that to his shock, the police invited him to the Police Headquarters, where he met Dr Amoah and Nana Adjei and they were subsequently handed over to the EOCO. After interrogation they were locked up at the BNI cells for 22 days. 

“We appeared before the Accra High Court  after being charged with money laundering and aiding and abetting to launder money. We were granted bail at $4 million with three sureties,” he stated.

He said in the course of the trial, Nana Adjei passed away, and just as the presiding Judge, Justice John Ajet Nasam, was going to set a date to review the charges and the indictment paper, the EOCO prosecution team told the court that it had come to discontinue the case due to lack of evidence.