A 30-year-old man, has been arrested by the police for allegedly using the names of Kevin Prince Boateng, the Ghanaian international footballer, and other prominent personalities, including Lawyer Sam Okudzeto and the late President Eyadema of Togo to commit various acts of fraud.
The man, Prince Kamamokai, a Nigerian businessman, is among three Nigerians busted by personnel of the Visa and Documentation Fraud unit of the Criminal Investigations Department. The two others are Emmanuel Kalu, 36 an electronic technician, and Okezie Nnitch, 35, a cloth dealers.
Briefing the media in Accra yesterday, the Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Prosper Kwame Agblor said the suspects were arrested by the Documentation and Visa Fraud unit following a tip-off.
He said Kamamokai was arrested on Saturday at a bank at Kisseman, Accra, where he had gone to cash money. Mr. Agblor said the suspect, using the name of the German-born Ghana international, Kevin Boateng, forged documents to open a bank account through which he received money from people he defrauded.
He was alleged to have also forged a Togolese identity card in the name of Prince Eyadema, son of the late Togolese President Eyadema and other documents designed as ‘Allianz Insurance USA’ covering $25,500,000 which he claimed was willed to him by his late father, President Eyadema. He then made a false representation to the US insurance company that the treasure has since November 2002 lodged with Allianz Insurance Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of the US firm. ‘The suspect again forged documents indicating that his lawyer is Mr. Sam Okudzeto who was processing documents to help him claim the inheritance from the insurance company in Ghana’.
Mr. Agblor said the suspect sent an email of the forged documents to the insurance company in the US to assist him with funds to claim the treasure.
The US Company became alarmed because the Ghana office of the company was opened in 2009 and wondered how a deposit could have been made in 2002. The Police were therefore alerted and they advised the US insurance company to feign interest and send $6,500 into the account of the suspect who was arrested when he went to the bank to cash the money.
In the case of Kalu and Nnitch, Mr. Agblor said the police swooped on then upon a tip-off that they were using names and credentials of prominent persons to defraud people. Police found their room at Sowutuom, a suburb of Accra, documents purported to have been signed by the Ministers of Finance and Economic Planning and the Interior, allowing them to transfer money into the country. A number of travellers cheque in pound sterling and dollars were also found during the search.
