Kumasi, June 21, GNA - A Kumasi circuit court on Monday granted Madam Akua Nimoh, a centenarian, 50 million cedis bail with two sureties to be justified for defrauding a trader. The accused, a citizen of Dentin at Offinso, who pleaded not guilty, will re-appear on July 20.

Prosecuting, Police Inspector Yaw Amofa told the court presided over by Mr Essel Mensah that, in November 2001, the accused agreed to rent a store at Adum, Kumasi to the complainant, Gifty Kwarteng, 38, Inspector Amofa said Madam Nimoh received 45 million cedis as advance payment for the rent and promised to present a tenancy agreement to the complainant later. The prosecutor said the complainant gave the amount to Madam Nimoh in the presence of witnesses and she (accused) asked his son, one Dr Owusu Afriyie (now deceased) to issue a temporary receipt to the

complainant. Inspector Amofa said there was a court injunction on the said store but the accused failed to tell the complainant. The prosecutor said, when the husband of the complainant returned from Britain to Ghana, he engaged carpenters to rehabilitate the store but, while working, the complainant's husband was arrested, put before court and sentenced to a fine.

Inspector Amofa said after the court fine, all efforts by the complainant and her husband to retrieve the 45 million cedis rent advance from Madam Nimoh proved futile, while members of the family of the accused, who filed a suit against her had moved to occupy part of the store. He said a report was therefore, made to the Kumasi Central Police, who arrested the accused and after investigations charged her with the offence.