A 31-year-old fleet manager at Huawei Technologies has been arraigned at an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly stealing 44 vehicles worth GH¢5.7 million.
The accused, Frank Ashirifi Junior, pleaded not guilty to 44 counts of stealing when he appeared before the court presided over by Patricia Amponsah on September 19.
He was, however, granted bail in the sum of GH¢2 million with four sureties, two to be justified by land title deeds.
The case has been adjourned to October 17 this year.
Facts
The facts of the case as presented by the prosecutor, Inspector Isaac Babayi, was that the complainant of the case, McDennis Ackon, who is also the Audit, Risk and Compliance Manager for Leasafric Ghana PLC, a car rental company in Kasoa, petitioned the Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service that the accused, Ashirifi, had sold 44 vehicles that his company had rented out to Huawei Technologies Ghana S.A. Limited.
“Investigations revealed that Leasafric Ghana PIC rented out about 44 vehicles made up of 21 Nissan Hardbody pickups, four Toyota Landcruiser Prado, nine Toyota Hilux pickups, two Mitsubishi Pajero, two Mitsubishi L200 pickups, three Hyundai Creta, one Hyundai Elantra, one Toyota Hiace, one Nissan Almera and one Nissan Patrol with their respective registration numbers valued at GH¢5,774, 519.58 to Huawei Technologies Ghana S.A. Limited between January 2021 and July 2022,” Inspector Babayi said.
He explained that Ashirifi was instructed by his company to return and replace the vehicles to Leasafric Ghana PLC but records of movements of the vehicles prepared by Frank Ahirifi showed that he had returned 37 vehicles to Leasafric Ghana PLC.
Fraudulent
The accused person, Inspector Babayi said, fraudulently sold those vehicles to unsuspected customers without the consent of Leasafric Ghana PLC and Huawei Technologies Ghana S.A. Limited.
He was subsequently arrested and admitted to selling the 44 vehicles.
“In the course of investigation, police retrieved vehicles to wit: four Toyota Landcruiser Prado with registration number GT 8052-18, GN 210-16, GW 52-19. GT 8051-18, one Mitsubishi Pajero with registration number GE 3208-15, three Toyota Hilux pickups with registration numbers GW 7281-17, GT 976-17. GX 78-17, three Hyundai Creta with registration Nos. GX 6345-19, GC 2566-19, GC 2565-19, ten Nissan Hardbody pickups with registration numbers GT 7329-19, GT 7344-19, GT 9941-18, GT 7347-19, GT 7351-19, GT 7349-19, GT 744-19, GN 607-17. GT 7350-19, GT 7346-19, one Toyota Hiace with registration number GT 7678-19, one Nissan Patrol with registration number GN 7563-16, one Nissan Almera with registration number GN 5681-15 and one Hyundai Elantra with registration number GN 4262-19 from respective buyers in Accra, Cape Coast, Techiman, Sunyani, Kumasi and Wa,” Inspector Babayi added.
The prosecutor added that the buyers mentioned the accused person as the one who sold the vehicles to them and took various sums of money from them.
Fixed deposits
On interrogation and in his investigations caution statement, the accused, Inspector Babayi said, admitted to realising an amount of GH¢710,000.00 from the sale of some of the vehicles but had invested in a Fixed Deposit at Access and Zenith Bank.
Inspector Babayi, however, stated that Ashirifi had refunded GH¢ 80,000.00 being proceeds from the sale of the vehicles to the police, adding that 25 vehicles had been retrieved remaining 19 vehicles.