During the second day of a trial about an alleged £200,000 fraud – involving alleged victims from a number of countries – Theophilus Ackorlie gave evidence via video link from Ghana.
Michelle Yuksel, who ran Parisma Ltd, Parisma Textiles Ltd and Logistics2Go, denies nine counts of fraudulent conversion. She is accused of taking the money of foreign businessmen – many of whom were based in developing countries – before spending it on herself and her businesses.
Yesterday, Mr Ackorlie told the court that he paid Mrs Yuksel £11,213 for a large quantity of shoes, plus £2,850 for shipping.
He said he received numerous emails, containing various excuses and assurances, but told the jury that he never received the goods. Mr Ackorlie added that after months of delays he had also not received a refund – despite repeatedly requesting one.
Crown Advocate Simon Thomas, prosecuting, told the jury that on 25 February 2011 Mr Ackorlie was sent an email saying that his shipment of goods had been loaded onto the Mol Volta vessel, and was due to arrive in Tema, Ghana, on 31 March of that year.
The jurors heard that after the shoes failed to arrive, Mr Ackorlie was informed that the container had gone missing.
Mr Ackorlie told the court: ‘At this point I was becoming very suspicious, because the number of excuses had become too many. But I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and give them some time. But I was very suspicious.’
Mr Ackorlie told the court that after being provided with a number of new shipment deadlines he was invited to Jersey from Ghana by Parisma to inspect the goods. But when visiting the company’s warehouse on 12 July – six months after the initial delivery date – he found that there were substantially fewer goods than he had ordered and that they were of the wrong type.
Mr Ackorlie said: ‘I told her that I was not here to inspect one sack of shoes.
‘There should have been 200 sacks and they contained all the shoes that we said that we did not want in the beginning.
‘I was then told that it was not ready, so I asked her why did I come here and she said that it was because I had been insistent and I said “what?”.
‘I was extremely disappointed. I could not wait.’
Later, Advocate Ian Jones, defending, asked Mr Ackorlie if he had read the terms and conditions on Parisma’s website.
Advocate Jones also told the jury that it would be the defence’s case that Mrs Yuksel had never met Mr Ackorlie.
The trial continues.
