Estate developer in court over alleged GH¢385k fraud

An estate developer has been charged with defrauding by false pretence for allegedly taking GH¢385,000 from his colleague after promising to secure him a parcel of land.

According to the prosecutor, Daniel Tortor Torgbor did not own or had access to the land in question contrary to what he had told the complainant.

Police say checks at the Lands Commission indicated that the land belonged to the State.

Daniel Tortor Torgbor was arraigned at the Accra Circuit Court presided over by Samuel Bright Acquah and pleaded not guilty to the charge.

He has since been remanded in police custody to reappear on Monday, January 16.

Chief Inspector Agatha A. Asantewaa narrating the facts of the case to the court said in 2016, two estate agents, George Abu Kandala and Issah Boti told the complainant about an acre of land available for sale at Cantonments in Osu.

The complainant then expressed interest and was introduced to the accused person as the allodial owner of the property.

The prosecutor added that Daniel Tortor Torgbor subsequently negotiated with the complainant and they agreed on an amount of $700,000 for the acre of land.

C/Insp. Asantewaa said Torgbor demanded and took GH¢385,000, the equivalent of $100,000 at the time claiming it was to enable him to prepare documents of the land.

However, he failed to honour his side of the agreement which led the complainant to make some checks at the Lands Commission and later found out that the said land did not belong to the accused person.

The prosecutor told the court that the accused person later promised to replace the land for the complainant.

C/Insp. Asantewaa said the accused person then introduced the complainant to a land at Sakumono Ramsar Site but failed to provide documents for that land as well.

According to her, Torgbor took the complainant to three different locations in Accra but all three trips were unproductive.

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