Prosecutors told an Accra Circuit Court that it is false that the embattled founder of Heavenway Champion International Ministry, Evangelist Mama Pat, popularly known as Nana Agradaa, voluntarily turned herself in.
The former fetish priestess was in court over an alleged new scam after scores of her church members cried foul recently about an advertised money-doubling service that did not go as planned.
After many calls for her arrest, the police began investigations into the matter and on Sunday, October 9, 2022, she was arrested.
Making her first appearance in court on Monday, October 10, 2022, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maxwell Oppong told the court that they had to block all access to Nana Agradaa's hideouts upon intelligence it received.
He explained further that it was only because of this that the accused was forced to report herself to the police, knowing very well that she had no fixed place of abode.
A report by The Chronicle newspaper said that the police "virtually had to block the airport to prevent the accused from taking a flight out of the country."
On how they arrested her, the prosecutor told the court that they had to resort to tracking her phone because she was not available in all of the places they thought she would be.
The video purported to be the genesis of Agradaa's new scam:
A report shared by GhanaWeb on Saturday, October 8, 2022, showed how scores of people who went to her church, Heavenway Champion International Ministry, were crying foul in what they described as a scam by the repented woman.
In several short video clips that have since gone viral, a number of the victims were seen running away from the church building of Evangelist Mama Pat and raising alarm that they had been deceived and scammed.
GhanaWeb's further checks showed that the people were at the church in their numbers on the day because the repented priestess had earlier advertised through her television channel that she was going to give out monies to people.
She is also alleged to have advertised that she would double monies that are brought to her church, Heavenway Champion International Ministry, on the day.
GhanaWeb eventually sighted the said video that advertised the church service, resulting in the alleged scam.
In the one-minute, fifty-six seconds video from her TV station shared by a Facebook user, the repented fetish priestess is seen calling on people to throng her church on October 7, 2022.
"This month is spiritual transformation month and that is why Heavenway Champion is donating 3 billion in the church. Come this Friday for the all night. If you want money for a job, if you need rent money, startup money, you need money to take care of your health, so, if you miss this Friday all night, then you are really going to miss out," she said in Twi.
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Nana Agradaa is facing fraud charges in court