Head Pastor charged with stealing luxury car

Accra, June 1, GNA - The Police on Tuesday put before a circuit court in Accra, Pastor Prince Kudolo, Head Pastor of the Go Ye Church in Kumasi and two others charged with stealing a Toyota Land Cruiser valued at 45,000 dollars and forging of documents.

Prosecuting, Police Chief Superintendent Prosper Agblor mentioned the two other accused persons as Abdul Ganiyu Kolade, a Nigerian Mechanic and Alhaji Moro Mohammed a Ghanaian Businessman based in Kumasi.

The accused, Pastor Kudolo and Mohammed, who pleaded not guilty to the charges in the court presided over by Mrs Elizabeth Ankomah, were granted a 100 million cedis bail each to reappear on June 15, 2004, while Kolade was not in court.

Chief Superintendent Agblor, who is also the head of Interpol, Accra, said on December 20, 2003, the first accused Kolade reported to the Tesano Police that Mohammed had sold his Toyota Land Cruiser with chassis number UZJ1000129141 with Nigerian registration number BE 138 AGL without his consent.

The case was later transferred to Interpol, Accra, following a petition to the Director of Criminal Investigations Department. Mr Agblor said in the course of investigations, it was revealed that, the car had been listed on the Interpol International Database on Stolen Vehicles and that the car was stolen from Japan on July 14, 2003. He said Interpol, Tokyo confirmed the stealing of the car and gave the name of the owner as The Tokyo Marine and Fire Insurance Company. Chief Superintendent Agblor said when the second accused was arrested, he lied that he had sold the car to one Fuseini, who had taken the car to Abidjan.

He said upon a tip off, Interpol traced the car to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority where Pastor Kudolo had sent it for registration.

The Prosecutor said during investigation it came out that Pastor Kudolo knowingly used fake documents for the payment of custom duty and the registration process.

He said Mohammed forged the documents and later gave them to Pastor Kudolo to enable him to register the vehicle.