Business Executive Remanded For Fraud

A top business executive has been arraigned before an Accra Circuit Court for defrauding a native of Niger, Mr. Abass Letsa, of an amount of $107,100 under the pretence of supplying 4500 metric tonnes of sugar.

The businessmen who were identify by the court as Mr. Jonas Okwabi and Mr. Samuel Oppong are both the Managing Director and Director of O & O Investment limited respectively, who approached the complainant (Mr. Abass Letsa), an employee of the Niger Embassy in Accra with aforementioned deal proposal.

Presenting the details of the matter to the court yesterday, presided over by Justice Francis Obiri, the investigator, Detective Sergeant Mathew from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) told the court that the accused persons approached the complainant in the month of May 2011, that they have 4500 tonnes of sugar for sale at the warehouse of OLAM Ghana Limited in Tema.

Mr. Abass Letsa then expressed interest in buying the sugar for which he invited two other persons from Niger to meet the accused persons.

He noted that the accused persons provided the buyers with some documents in respect of the commodity (4500 tonnes of sugar), after which they took the buyers to the warehouse for inspection of the goods.

As at this point, the accused persons made the buyers to pay for the goods and necessary documentation of $107,100 – which they did.

But on May 18 2013, when the complainants sent a truck to the warehouse to load the consignment, they were approached by management of OLAM Ghana Limited to offload the goods, insisting that they (OLAM) were the rightful owners of the commodity and had no transaction with O&O Investment Limited.

A report was later made to the police and during investigation it came to light that all documents presented by the accused persons to the complainants, as belonging to OLAM Ghana Limited, were falsely acquired.

The first accused was arrested and admitted to have collect the monies during interrogations for which he could not give any tangible excuse, as he his currently assisting police to arrest the second accused.