An Accra Circuit Court 8, Presided over by Her Honour Adelaide Abui Keddy, a couple of days ago, sentenced Mr. Lawaal Fuseini, a dismissed Security Coordinator of MMTL, to a ten (10) year jail term, for blackmailing his former Managing Director, Bennet Aboagye.
It is intriguing to note that Lawaal, in 2018, viciously planted a secret recording device in the office of Mr. Bennet Aboagye, the then Managing Director of Metro Mass Transit Ltd (MMTL) where he, the convict, also worked as a Security Coordinator. The convict used the recording to demand $1 million from his former MD but only succeeded in obtaining GHC40,000.00 which he lodged in his personal account with ADB, the same money that eventually served as evidence of Lawaal’s blackmail and extortion.
Mr. Aboagye, suspicious of Lawaal’s nefarious activity, reported the matter to the police and this triggered investigation, resulting in Lawaal’s arraignment, conviction and custodial sentence of ten years.
The accused person has been charged with conspiracy to commit crime (to wit Extortion) contrary to section 23(1) of the criminal and other offenses Act 1960, Act 29, unlawful Entry contrary to section 152 of Act 29 and two counts of Extortion contrary to section 151 of Act 29.
The trial judge in delivery of her judgement stated as follows; I have considered the guiding principles governing sentencing and the practice direction which include the intrinsic seriousness of the offense , the degree of revulsion felt by law abiding citizens on the offenses of extortion and the sudden increase in the incidence of this in the society and I am of the view that the accused person deserves a deterrent sentence for the reason that the acts of extortion and blackmail have become rampant and ought to be condemned in its entirety to deter others from doing same .
It is worthy of mention that Mr. Aboagye had always denied any wrongdoing and we recall with great sorrow, how Mr. Aboagye’s consistent denial of his complicity in any shady deals was ignored by everybody, leaving him to his fate.
Even though today, we can rejoice and say that the brutally battered image has been redeemed through the court’s ruling, but this could only be described as a Pyrrhic victory as Mr. Aboagye lost his job as a Managing Director and was subjected to all forms of vicious calumny, with public and widespread opprobrium heaped on him.
This is what the infamous criminal called Lawaal Fuseini succeeded in doing to the hardworking, honest and celebrated businessman and statesman.
As we rejoice with Mr. Aboagye over the great vindication, we as well console him for all that he lost including friends he trusted but who betrayed him during those trying moments. Our prayer is that the Good Lord Himself would restore him beyond his original glory.
