The state has withdrawn charges against two alleged accomplices in the eight-million-dollar romance scam case involving Frederick Kumi, also known as Abu Trica.
The charges against Lord Eshun and Bernard Aidoo were withdrawn after the prosecution, led by Mr Derrick Ackah Nyamekeh, a State Attorney, informed the Gbese District Court that the State had “put its house in order.”
Mr Kumi, the first accused, together with Eshun and Aidoo, was initially arraigned on December 12, 2025, on provisional extradition charges arising from their alleged involvement in the romance scam, for which they faced counts of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
When the case was called on January 13, 2026, Mr Nyamekeh told the Court that, upon further investigation, the Republic was withdrawing the charges against the second and third accused, Eshun and Aidoo.
He explained that the two were provisionally charged under Section 6 of the Extradition Act, 1960 (Act 22), as accessories to the first accused person.
The State Attorney said the law, under the Extradition Treaty between Ghana and the United States, as well as the United Kingdom, permitted the provisional arrest and arraignment of a fugitive before a District Court pending the receipt of a formal diplomatic request.
He said it was on that basis that Mr Kumi, described as the first fugitive, had been arraigned and that it was the Court that would ultimately determine whether to commit an accused person to stand trial outside the country.
Responding to objections raised by defence counsel concerning the committal proceedings, Mr Nyamekeh said it was premature to call for Mr Kumi’s release.
“If defence counsel’s objection is anything to go by, it is, at best, premature to call for his release,” he said.
Mr Oliver Barker-Vormawor, Counsel for Mr Kumi and Aidoo, said he had no objection to the State’s withdrawal of the provisional charges against Eshun and Aidoo.
However, he argued that following the withdrawal of charges against the two alleged accomplices, Mr Kumi should also be discharged and released.
He contended that the charge sheet before the Court indicated that Mr Kumi was charged with conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, and that Ghanaian law did not recognise a conspiracy involving only one person.
According to him, the withdrawal of charges against the alleged co-conspirators rendered it legally impossible to proceed against the remaining accused person.
“The charge against the first accused person fails in its entirety by the withdrawal of the charges against the alleged conspirators. In the circumstances, Kumi should be discharged and released,” he argued.
Defence counsel further drew the Court’s attention to the Extradition Act, 1960 (Act 22), and Article 3 of the 1931 Treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom, stating that committal proceedings must be grounded in offences recognised under Ghanaian law and designated as extraditable.
He said committal proceedings could not arise in a vacuum but must be anchored in law.
The relieving judge adjourned the matter to February 7, 2026, for ruling.
However, the Court declined to discharge Eshun and Aidoo, stating that it did not have sufficient details of the case before it.
The three accused persons were remanded into lawful custody until February 7, 2026.
Mr Kumi, Eshun and Aidoo are alleged to have been involved in an eight-million-dollar romance scam in the United States of America and were facing charges of conspiracy to defraud by false pretences and conspiracy to commit crime, to wit, money laundering.
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