Double agony for job seekers

The Police Crime Intelligence Unit is investigating a case in which five suspects including a woman are said to have styled themselves as security consultants of a non-existing multi-national mining company and duped about 800 job seekers of millions of cedis under the pretext of giving them jobs.

They are Thompson Frimpong, 65, a private security officer attached to the Kumasi Central Market branch of the Amansie West Rural Bank, Osei Tutu, 54, John Acquah, 47, both styling themselves as security managers of the company and Emmanuel Takyi, 37, claiming to be sales executive of a private F.M radio station in Kumasi.

The police did not give the name of the lady accomplice, said to be on the run. The four suspects have been granted bail. Briefing the “Times” yesterday, a police spokesman said that sometime last month policemen on patrol duties found the suspects recruiting large numbers of people near the Kumasi Sports Stadium as security men for the company, Belmot Mining Service Company Limited, alleged to have branches all over the world.

Suspicious, the policement confronted Frimpong who claimed to be a security consultant of the company and leader of the suspects, but he failed to produce the necessary documents authorizing the group to undertake the recruitment exercise. Frimpong was said to have named a Jeffry J. C. Delvon, an Autralian, as the managing director of the company but efforts to trace him or the company drew a blank.

Frimpong and two of his accomplices, Osei Tutu and Acquah were dragged to the Regional Police CID where they allegedly confessed that the recruitment exercise was a fluke. Takyi who posed as an official of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) attached to the company, was arrested by some of the victims and handed over to the police.

The group collected various monies ranging from ?20,000 to ?30,000 from the victims in addition to their passport size photographs to ‘facilitate” the recruitment exercise. The police has retrieved over 700 passport size photographs of some of the victims. About 235 people claiming to be victims have so far reported to the police.