A 34-year-old legal practitioner, Divine Effah-Dartey, has been brought before an Accra Circuit Court due to his purported involvement in a fraudulent excavator transaction that resulted in a loss of GH¢800,000 for a businessman.
Effah-Dartey is charged with assisting two other individuals in misleading a potential buyer into remitting GH¢800,000 as a partial payment for an excavator that was never legitimately owned by the sellers.
He has refuted the accusation of aiding and abetting fraud through false pretenses and was granted police enquiry bail after a request was made by his father, retired naval officer Captain Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey.
Two additional defendants, Mawuli Awadzi Amenyo, a 49-year-old carpenter, and Jiang Tao, a warehouse manager, have also been brought to court.
Amenyo, who has entered a plea of not guilty to conspiracy and fraud by false pretenses, was granted bail set at GH¢400,000 with two sureties, one of whom must be justified.
Jiang Tao, who faces charges of abetment, was also granted police enquiry bail. A fourth suspect, Rishan Mahanta, remains at large and is facing an extra charge of forgery.
Presiding judge Evelyn Asamoah has postponed the case until January 23, 2026.
In presenting the details, Detective Chief Inspector Abel Amanie stated that the complainant, Kofi Boateng, a businessman from Asankragwa in the Western Region, was looking to purchase an excavator for commercial rental purposes.
In September 2025, a third party connected Boateng with Amenyo, who subsequently introduced him to Mahanta, asserting that he was an excavator importer based in Accra.
The prosecution claims that Boateng traveled to Accra on October 1, 2025, accompanied by associates to examine the equipment. They were taken to the premises of Caitec Delta Limited, where Mahanta allegedly misrepresented several excavators as his own.
Jiang Tao was reported to have provided a key to allow Boateng to test one of the machines, despite the area being off-limits.
After being satisfied following the inspection, Boateng agreed to purchase a Sany hydraulic excavator valued at GH¢1.7 million and paid GH¢800,000 upfront.
He was subsequently taken to a law firm at Kaneshie, where Effah-Dartey, introduced as Mahanta’s lawyer, allegedly received the cash, issued a receipt, and provided what prosecutors say was a forged Import Declaration Form purportedly from the Ghana Revenue Authority.
The prosecution told the court that Amenyo later abandoned Boateng under the guise of arranging transportation for the excavator and went off communication.
Further checks revealed that neither Amenyo nor Mahanta owned the equipment and that Mahanta was not a registered client of the law firm involved.
Amenyo was finally busted on October 7, 2025, and allegedly admitted his involvement, claiming the money was handed over to Effah-Dartey. Investigations are ongoing as police continue efforts to locate Mahanta.
The case is scheduled to resume in January, 2026.
