Akwatia MP Bernard Bediako Baidoo has denied allegations that he orchestrated a scheme to fraudulently sell the lands and properties of Air Real Estate Company Limited.
The allegations were made by Pastor Kelvin, founder and leader of Zoe Outreach Embassy Church in Ghana, who accused the legislator of using false documents and a non-existent transaction to obtain a court judgment that enabled the sale of several properties.
But Baidoo has rejected the claims, insisting that although he worked at the law firm involved in the case, he was not the lawyer representing the party in question.
“This is not an issue I’m going to waste my time on. It is simple. First of all, it is not true that I was the lawyer of Augustine and I was the person who scammed and took everything to court… in this particular case, I was not the lawyer on record,” he said.
The MP challenged anyone claiming otherwise to produce evidence showing that he was the lawyer on record.
“If Kwesi Kubiri says he has any document that shows that I was the lawyer of Augustine Ampofo, he should publish it so that the good people of Ghana would see it. There is nothing like that,” he added.
Baidoo explained that the matter was handled by a senior lawyer at the firm where he worked and said Pastor Kelvin had previously confronted the senior lawyer over the case.
He questioned why he had now become the subject of the allegations despite insisting that he played no role in the legal proceedings.
Pastor Kelvin, however, has maintained that Baidoo was central to what he described as a fraudulent scheme involving Air Real Estate Company Limited’s lands and properties.
According to the pastor, police findings allegedly identified the MP as the mastermind behind a transaction that did not exist.
“From police findings, Bernard Bediako Baidoo is the brain behind the whole thing. (He) created a transaction that doesn’t exist. Filed a writ in court through Amoaku Adjei’s chambers. Executed the writ and got judgment, and then executed the auction,” Pastor Kelvin claimed.
He alleged that 14 properties had already been sold, while about 8.2 acres of undeveloped land remained to be addressed.
The pastor further claimed that the alleged scheme was based on an individual identified as Augustine Ampofo Bediako, whom he said could not be traced and had no known transaction with Air Real Estate Limited.
“So the case here is that simple. The case is number one. Augustine Ampofo Bediako cannot be found, and also had no transaction at all with Air Real Estate Limited, nor did any worker of Air Real Estate Limited ever know him?” he said.
Pastor Kelvin also claimed that Access Bank records showed no payment from the individual into an account associated with Air Real Estate Limited.
He alleged that the supposed transaction was created to facilitate the sale of the company’s properties through court proceedings.
The conflicting accounts leave the allegations disputed, with the Akwatia MP firmly denying any involvement in the alleged scheme and challenging his accusers to produce documents supporting their claims.
