The Criminal Court 5 Division of the High Court yesterday granted GH₵200,000 bail to Bachir Musa Aminou, a 42 year-old Nigerian who was arrested with 656 Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards in his possession, at the Kotoka International Airport.
He was to produce two sureties, who must be Ghanaian citizens and domiciled in the country. Each of the sureties must demonstrate that he/she is on a net monthly salary of not less than GH₵3,000
Additionally, the Presiding judge, Lydia Osei Marfo, ordered accused to deposit his passport at the Court Registry and report weekly (on Mondays) to the National Investigations Bureau until the end of the case.
The prosecution, since the arrest of Aminou, has consistently prayed the court for adjournments to enable investigators conclude their work.
Yesterday, an assistant state attorney, Amanda Awade, said that the State was scheduled to brief the court on how far the investigation had gone.
However, the State Attorney said she contacted the investigator in charge of the case and was informed that the investigators were yet to receive responses to letters they had sent to the various banks where the ATM cards were found, as well as the Bank of Ghana.
Awade told the Court that there was no new information with regards to developments on the matter.
The judge observed that “it’s been long enough that the Court expected the investigators to conclude their investigations.”
She said that although prosecution had prayed for extension of time and the same had been granted, the prosecution “still had not provided any tangible results of their investigations against the accused.”
The case has been adjourned to March 23, 2022.
The National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) on September 12, 2021 arrested Aminou at the Kotoka International Airport when he was going through departure formalities en route to Dubai with 656 ATM cards connected to nine banks operating in Ghana and Nigeria. Accused concealed the cards in a black plastic bag containing kola nuts.
During interrogation, he said that 132 of the cards belonged to him, and that he collected them from his extended relative for business, and the rest of the cards were for his business partners in Dubai. –ghanaweb
