How Baby Ocansey Shared the $1.5m

The Prosecution in the Hajia Baby trial yesterday revealed how Hajia Baby Ocansey, the businesswoman charged with stealing $1.5 million, belonging to the Bank of Ghana, disbursed some of the cash to her relatives, friends and aides, and also bought property.

The Principal State Attorney, Mr. Anthony Gyambiby, who was leading the prosecution, told the Regional Tribunal, hearing the case, that investigation conducted by the prosecution had disclosed that Hajia Baby Ocansey soon after she had cashed the money bought a house at the cost of $120,000 at Gbawe, a suburb of Accra, and then packed out of her house at Abeka Lapaz and relocated at her new house before she went underground.

Prosecution further disclosed that during their investigation it emerged that Hajia Baby Ocansey bought gold and diamond ornaments at the cost of $150,000 and $350,000 respectively.

Mr. Gyambiby, presenting the facts of the case to the court, presided over by Justice I. K. Duose, further revealed that Hajia Baby Ocansey dished out $70,000 from the $1.5 million to one Aboagye for him to purchase a brand new car from New York for her personal use after she had already bought five cars and registered those cars in the name of one of her daughters, Nafisatu.

Prosecution had withdrawn an early charge against Gavor and two others and substituted it with a fresh charge which roped in Hajia Baby Ocansey to the top as the first accused while, displacing Sebastian Dick Kobla Nukpui Gavor from first accused to second accused, while Justice Archibald Nee Ofosu Larbi and Alhaji Siddiq Gimala fall to second and third accused respectively.

Hajia Baby Occansey was charged with five counts ranging from stealing, forging documents, causing financial lost to the state, dishonestly appropriating a total of 1.5 million dollars and altering forged documents.

The other accused were charged with conspiracy to commit crime causing financial loss. The four accused all pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Mr. Gyambiby also indicated that in the course of the trial, the prosecution would establish that Hajia Baby Ocansey, further doled out $40,000 to her daughter, Nafisatu, and additionally gave out $30,000 to Alhaji Siddiq Gimala, the third accused in the case, saying that the accused had since then put the cash in treasurer bills at the Standard Chartered Bank.

According to the prosecution, officers at the bank of Ghana who assisted her to cash the cheque were not left empty-handed as they were given $10,000 to be shared among themselves.

After this disclosure by the prosecution, counsel for Hajia Baby Ocansey, Mr. Kwame Dadzoe, prayed the court for bail, stating that his client had been punished for the long time that she had been in custody for three weeks and that she is innocent until proved guilty.

Counsel also told the court that his client came out by herself to face trial and that was the reason why the police found it easy to arrest her.

However, the prosecution objected to the bail, saying that it may appear that if she was given bail there was the likelihood that she might not stand trial and that she could commit a similar crime.

The court therefore ordered that Hajia Baby Ocansey should bring a surety with proper documents to be examined before it would decide whether to grant her bail or not.

The court in a marathon session plunged into the substantive case, calling on the prosecution to bring its first witness.

Led in evidence-in-chief, the first prosecution witness, Mr. Emmanuel Davis Donkor, former Managing Director of the Bank of Ghana in the Banking Department, told the court that he met Hajia Baby Ocansey in Mr. Gavor's office and that his boss Mr. Gavor asked him to give the account number of the Bank of Ghana Correspondent bank in London, the United Kingdom, the Ghana International Bank, to Hajia, which he did, because the accused was bringing some money into the country.

He further said that after Hajia had cashed the amount, another fax came to the bank stating that the cheque was fraudulent.

Mr. Donkor narrated that a meeting was held between Gavor, Larbi, Alhaji Siddiq and Hajia Baby Ocansey and other officials of the bank, and Hajia was told that the cheque had bounced.

According to the prosecution witness, at the meeting Hajia told them that she was going to consult her business partners in America and that she should be given one week.

Mr. Donkor said that another fax came after the meeting, which stated that there was an error on the cheque and that it should be honoured.

The case will continue today.