The 51-year-old contractor Joseph Owusu was fined GH¢3,600 by the Tarkwa Circuit Court, or five years in prison if he didn’t pay the punishment, for writing five bad checks.
This came after Owusu was found guilty on five counts of issuing fake checks by the court chaired by Mrs. Hathia Ama Manu. The complainant’s money was ordered to be refunded by Owusu by the court.
Leading the prosecution, police superintendent Juliana Essel-Dadzie stated that the complainant, Stephen Dankwah-Smith, was a licensed moneylender who resided in Tarkwa alongside Owusu.
When Owusu approached Dankwah-Smith in July 2020 seeking financial support, the latter consented to extend an offer of a loan with an interest rate of twenty percent.
According to the prosecutor, Dankwah-Smith gave Owusu a loan of GH¿ 1,268,480.00 in installments, with the understanding that he would repay the balance plus interest by the end of September 2021.
According to Superintendent Essel-Dadzie, Dankwah-Smith made multiple unsuccessful attempts to get the money back after Owusu failed to pay the bill.
According to her, Owusu wrote five checks to the UMB Tarkwa branch on March 3, 2023, each having a face value of GH3,600, GH150,000, GH12,000, GH1,300,000, and GH120,000, to be drawn by the complainant that same day.
The prosecution said that Dankwah-Smith notified Owusu that the bank had dishonored the checks due to insufficient cash, but Owusu did nothing.
Owusu was taken into custody after the complainant brought the case to the police on July 20, 2023, for further investigation. In his statement, Owusu acknowledged the offense.
