Two granted bail over alleged GH¢127m cyber theft

Two men accused of taking part in the alleged diversion of GH¢127 million from a company’s financial system have been granted bail by an Accra court.

The accused, Wisdom Mandy, 30, and Dennis Kudzo Letsa, 29, are facing charges including stealing, unauthorised access to a computer programme or electronic record and money laundering.

They have also been charged with conspiracy to commit crime and obtaining an electronic payment medium falsely.

The prosecution, led by ASP Seth Frimpong, had opposed bail, arguing that police still needed the accused persons in custody to advance investigations.

The court, however, granted Mandy bail in the sum of GH¢3 million with three sureties.

Two of the sureties are to be justified with landed property worth the bail sum.

Letsa was granted bail in the sum of GH¢500,000 with three sureties.

One of his sureties must also be justified with landed property worth the bail sum.

The court further ordered both accused persons to report to the case investigator until the final determination of the case or until further orders.

The case has been adjourned to October 26, 2026.

Mandy and Letsa are standing trial with three other suspects, Zakaria Karim Abdul, Kevin Arinze and Issah Seidu, who are currently at large.

The prosecution alleges that the accused persons diverted portions of the funds into mobile money wallets and bank accounts held with 12 financial institutions.

Counsel for Mandy, Abdul Fatawu Alhassan, had urged the court to grant bail, arguing that his client had been in custody for close to a month.

He said that period should have been enough for the prosecution to make progress with its investigations.

He also reminded the court that Mandy is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Letsa’s lawyer, Godwin Fatawu Dakpo, also opposed the prosecution’s request for further detention.

He argued that the accused persons were before the court on allegations and that their pleas had not yet been taken.

According to the prosecution, the case began after the Managing Director of an unnamed company reported to police on August 31, 2026, that unknown persons had gained unauthorised access to the company’s financial system.

The alleged cyberattack reportedly led to the transfer of GH¢127 million into several bank and mobile money accounts without authorisation.

The complainant is said to have discovered the transactions during a routine reconciliation conducted between August 23 and August 30, 2026.

Police say the funds were moved into multiple accounts held with 12 financial institutions and MTN mobile money wallets.

Those accounts have since been frozen.

Investigations allegedly led to the arrest of Mandy, who operated three businesses: Mando Pay, Hyfi Ventures and BluePeak Enterprise.

The prosecution claims Mandy used the business accounts of those entities to receive large portions of the funds.

These allegedly included GH¢49,711,750, GH¢19,327,950 and GH¢4,983,850 credited to two accounts with a financial institution.

The prosecution further alleges that after transaction limits on Mandy’s business accounts had been exhausted, he used Letsa’s business account to receive additional funds.

Letsa is said to have operated the account under the name Klenda Trade Enterprise.

The account allegedly received GH¢4,941,450.

The prosecution says Letsa later transferred the money into another business account, Zak AB Limited.

An amount of GH¢2,989,890 was also allegedly transferred into the account of Mandy’s former girlfriend.

The prosecution further alleges that Zakaria Karim Abdul received GH¢39,209,378 in an account, while Issah Seidu received GH¢1,131,450 through a mobile money account.

In his cautioned statement, Mandy allegedly admitted receiving funds but claimed he used them to purchase digital assets for Arinze.

The prosecution said Mandy also admitted benefiting GH¢3 million from a cryptocurrency transaction.

Letsa, in his cautioned statement, allegedly said Mandy contacted him to provide his account, after which GH¢4,941,450 passed through his business account.

The prosecution said investigations also showed that Mandy, Letsa and Abdul were friends and attended the same university.

Police say investigations are ongoing to trace other bank and mobile money accounts that may have received portions of the funds and to identify other persons who may have been involved.