James Okine, an estate developer, and two other people had their bail conditions overturned by the Samuel Bright Acquah-presiding Accra Circuit Court because they disobeyed its directives. When James Okine, Stephen Okutu Kofi, alias Kofi Santoe, and Benjamin Djanker, alias Asaa, came in court yesterday, the judge withdrew their Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) bail and remanded them into police custody.
Inspector Da Costa Bobie Ansah, who was representing Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maxwell Oppong, informed the Court that the accused had not been reporting to the police as the Court had instructed. The estate developer, Mr. Okine, and the other two, along with caterpillar operators Ali Amadu and Kamasah Yeboah and Abubakar Issah (all unemployed), have been charged with conspiring to commit a crime and unauthorized land protection. The hearing was postponed until March 28, 2023 because they have all entered not guilty pleas to the accusations.
The complainant, a businessman named Godrich Ardey, lived in Katamanso, according to ASP Oppong, while the three accused people lived in Zenu-Ashaiman, Teiman, and Oyibi, respectively. He informed the court that two further defendants who were to be on trial alongside the accused—Stephen Okutu Kofi, nicknamed Kofi Santos, and Benjamin Djanker, aka Asaa—were instead evading capture. According to the prosecution, the complainant informed the police about his family’s situation on January 3, 2023.
The prosecution said on January 3, 2023, the complainant reported to the police that his family owned 1.625.474 acres of land at Katamanso with a land title certificate covering the said land. It said in addition to the land title certificate, the complainant also had a Power of Attorney from his family to back his claims. The prosecution said investigations by the police indicated that the complainant’s family had the said land in possession for several decades.
It also said that the family had leased portions of the land to some estate companies that had built houses on the land without any challenges. The prosecution said that Mr Okine, the first accused and owner of Greenlake Estate, had allegedly recruited land guards on the land, who protected him (Mr Okine) and his workers, while they were unlawfully grading the land to commence development. It said on January 5, 2023, the police visited the scene with the complainant and found Yeboah and Amadu using a pay loader machine to grade the complainant’s family land under the protection of Issah, Okutu and Djanker, allegedly. The prosecution said Yeboah and Amadu were arrested and during investigation, Okine followed up and was also arrested for investigation, while efforts were being made to arrest the two other accused persons.
