The Chinese woman at the centre of an alleged $313.59 million illegal cash transfer from Ghana in 2019 has been granted bail in the sum of GH¢500,000 by an Accra Circuit Court.
Ms Chen Jianhua was busted by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) for allegedly transferring the sums illegally.
Her bail conditions were the provision of two sureties to be justified, depositing her passport at the court registry and reporting to EOCO every fortnight.
Ms Jianhua, also known as Esther Chen, is facing charges of money laundering, possession of forged documents, tax evasion and working in the country without a work permit.
She is standing trial with nine other former employees of some banks who are also on bail in the sum of GH¢200,000 with two sureties each to be justified.
They include Mark Fauchie Sobreh, Prosper Sossoe, Kwesi Offei, Khadeeja Busari and Victor Tudzi.
The rest are Allison Akua Kwabena, Ernest Kwame Ansah, Jane Ansah and Nuhu Odu.
Illegal transfers
In 2019, EOCO arrested Ms Jianhua for allegedly transferring $313.59 million out of the country illegally, otherwise known as money laundering.
The Executive Director of EOCO, Commissioner of Police Frank Adu-Poku (retd), said she was placed in police custody in Accra after EOCO found that large amounts of money in dollars, some of them linked to non-existent companies, moved through multiple bank accounts from Ghana to China between 2011 and 2019.
The total credit transactions on the account as of March 20, 2019, was GH¢154.06 million for the local account, and $12.36 million for the foreign account.
The corresponding debit was GH¢154.05 million and $12.36 million.
“She could not explain the source of the funds. Our investigations, however, revealed that those transactions were from companies, including Synergy Global Consult Limited, Venturome Ventures, Kings Royal Real Estates and other Chinese nationals in Ghana.”