I'm Not Too Crazy About Fraud Charges - MP

The MP for Upper Denkyira East Hon. Nana Amoakoh has told Public Agenda that he is not bothered about allegations in international media that he had duped his former employers of $1million.

"I am not too crazy about it but at the right time I will respond either through my lawyers or PRO."


The website of the Associated Press news agency recently published a report accusing the MP of a $1million scam while working with a limousine service company in Brooklyn, New York in the United States.


Asked for his comments on the case, Hon. Amoako said he was not formally aware of the case and neither had he been served with any court document. According to him, he has snippets of information he heard through telephone calls he had received from friends as at last Friday morning.


He refuted the allegations and disclosed that he worked for the company from 1988-2005 resigning with an impeccable record. He subsequently returned to Ghana and contested for the parliamentary seat and won.


Hon. Amoakoh declined to go into the details of the case since he has learnt the case was in court " but at the right time when he is contacted he would respond appropriately".


According to the Associated Press, prosecutors say Amoakoh who was the head of a limousine service has been indicted on charges of helping to loot his business of more than $1 million and spending it on political campaign in Ghana.

Mahattan District Attorney, Robert Morgenthau, said on Thursday that Augustine Asiedu and a colleague, Nick Zarbhanelian, allegedly stole the money from Brooklyn-based Fone-A-Car and two of its lenders from 2002 to 2005 and used the money to run for political office in Ghana.


Prosecutors were working with the U.S. Department of Justice to extradite Asiedu, also known as Nana Amoakoh.


NEW YORK -


Efforts to reach Asiedu for comment in Africa were not immediately successful.


Asiedu and Zarbhanelian, Fone-A-Car's chief financial officer, allegedly stole checks for about $700,000 written by Manhattan clients including investment banks and law firms for car services.


Asiedu, of Brooklyn, later allegedly wired a large amount of the stolen money to accounts he had in Ghana. He also wrote more than $30,000 worth of checks from a Fone-A-Car account for deposit into the bank account of his girlfriend, Sebastiana Paul, of Brooklyn, who also is a defendant in the indictment.

Morgenthau said Asiedu, 52, and Zarbhanelian, 55, worked with Apurva Patel, 41, of Armonk, N.Y., to steal $325,000 from All Points Capital Corp., a financing and leasing company affiliated with North Fork Bank.


Asiedu, Zarbhanelian and Patel are charged with second-degree grand larceny and money laundering, punishable by 15 years in prison upon conviction. Paul, 43, is charged with third-degree grand larceny, punishable by seven years in prison.


Zarbhanelian, Patel and Paul pleaded not guilty at their arraignments in Manhattan's state Supreme Court and were ordered to return to court June 28. Bail for Zarbhanelian was set at $500,000. Patel's bail was set at $250,000, which he posted, and Paul posted bail of $25,000 and was released.


A telephone call to a number listed for the car service rang unanswered Thursday, and phone numbers for the defendants could not be located.