Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi
A Kumasi Circuit Court presided over by Mr Ernest Yao Obimpeh has discharged two suspects including a White South African, Carlos coker alias Tony, who were alleged to have defrauded a Kumasi-based businessman of $103,000.
The four, were discharged following an application of nolle prosequi filed by the Ashanti Regional Principal State Attorney, Mr William Kpobi, for them to be discharged and prosecuted by a higher court.
Consequently, they were re-arrested minutes after their discharge to assist with further investigations into the case.
The four, together with six others now at large, are said to have promised to assist the complainant, Alhaji Dauda Abu, a resident of Suame, a Kumasi suburb, to establish a school complex and a hospital.
Carlos; Noel Morton Moss, alias James Anderson; Tunde Alabi and Musa Awudu, alias Mustapha, who first appeared before the court on May 8, 2008, were remanded into prison custody when they pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiring to defraud and defrauding a businessman of $103,000.
It was at their second appearance before the court, presided over by Mr Ernest Yao Obimpeh, that the application for their discharge was filed.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Regina Kesewa, had told the court that about six months ago, the complainant had a call on his cell phone and the caller, who identified himself as Mustapha, calling from London, told him (the complainant) that he (Mustapha) worked for some white men in London who had expressed interest in establishing a school complex and a hospital in Kumasi.
She said Mustapha also told Alhaji Dauda that the white men had tasked him to look for a front man in Ghana who could get them 50 plots of land to house the two projects, as well as buildings that could be used as offices and accommodation facilities for workers who would be employed to work there.
According to ASP Kesewa, the complainant became interested in the proposals and later Mustapha succeeded in establishing a contact between Alhaji Dauda and a certain man who claimed to be calling from London and who identified himself as Hans Rudorf, now at large.
She said in the course of their conversation, Rudorf promised to send $3 million to the complainant to enable him to pay for the 50 plots of land and the houses to be developed for the projects.
ASP Kesewa said a few days later, the complainant had another call from someone, who claimed to be calling from Togo and the caller told the complainant that he had been given a parcel, which contained $3 million to be given to him (the complainant).
The prosecutor further told the court that in the course of their conversation, the complainant told the caller to bring the parcel to him in Ghana, and so a deal was established that the complainant should pay $3,725 for the parcel to be brought to him in Kumasi.
He said on his way to collect the parcel, the complainant had a call from Mustapha, who wanted to know if the complainant had received the parcel containing the $3 million.
The prosecutor said the complainant also had another call from Rudorf, directing him to read carefully the instructions accompanying the parcel and comply fully with them.
She said Rudorf also told the complainant that for security reasons, the $3 million had been defaced and, therefore, directed the complainant to contact some people in Ghana for assistance to turn the notes into genuine ones.
The prosecutor said as soon as Alhaji Dauda called the number provided by Rudorf, someone who identified himself as Carlos, picked the call and later succeeded in tracing the complainant to Kumasi to inspect the contents of the parcel.
She said Carlos later demanded $3,500 to procure chemicals to enable him to turn the defaced dollars into genuine notes. She said through that means, Carlos succeeded in collecting thousands of dollars from the complainant, with a firm assurance that the defaced dollars would be turned into genuine notes.
ASP Kesewa said along the line, another suspect, Mack Williams, and one Engineer, both at large, were also introduced to the complainant by Cooker as officials from South Africa, who could assist in turning the defaced dollars into genuine ones and, therefore, collected several dollars from the complainant.
The prosecutor also told the court that on April 5, 2008, Carlos led a delegation, which included Mack Williams and two whites, James Anderson, alias Noel Morgan Moss, and one Smith, to the complainant, where Morgan sprayed some chemicals onto some of the defaced dollar notes, causing some of them to turn into real notes.
She said after the act, they further demanded $11,000 from the complainant, claiming that they needed to buy more chemicals to turn the others into dollars.
The prosecutor, said after paying about $103,000 to the suspects, the complainant came to his senses that he was being defrauded so he lodged a complaint with the police. When Carlos returned to Kumasi on April 28, 2008 to collect the parcel back to Accra, he was arrested.
.ASP Regina Kesewa said Carlos later took the police to Accra to arrest some of his accomplices, including James Anderson, Tunde Alabi and Mush Awudu, who had earlier given his name as Mustapha, but the other six escaped police arrest.
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