Nigerian fraudster still in police custody

The Nigerian woman who used photographs of Ministers of Information, Foreign Affairs and a Deputy Minister of the Interior to create different Facebook accounts to defraud unsuspecting victims of GH¢10, 277.00 is still in police custody.

On May 22, 2020, an Accra Circuit Court presided over by Justice Emmanuel Essandoh granted Vivian Sajida Imran GH¢12,000 bail with two sureties.

As part of the bail conditions, the judge said one of the sureties must be a public servant earning not less than GH¢1,500.00 monthly.

At proceedings yesterday, the prosecutor, Detective Sergeant Frederick Sarpong told the court that the accused could not satisfy the bail bond.

Imran, 3,1 and her husband Prince Joel, now on the run, were charged with six counts of false pretence and defrauding by false pretences.

The accused used the photos of Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Minister of Information, Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Henry Quartey, Deputy Minister of National Security by falsely pretending that they could secure employment for the victims at the Tema Oil Refinery, Ghana Gas Company and COCOBOD.

At the last sitting, her counsel, Abdul Mumuni told Justice Essandoh who is sitting with additional responsibility as a circuit court judge, that his client was a victim of circumstances.

Sgt. Sarpong said in April this year, the accused used mobile money numbers- 0242774965 and 0551047196 to receive money transfers from the victims.

He said the money was then transferred to another MTN mobile money number registered in Vivian’s name.

Sgt. Sarpong said the ministers got wind of the activity of the accused and reported them to National Security.

The prosecutor told the court that National Security traced the accused to their house in Ashaiman Jericho and arrested Vivian, but Joel managed to escape.

He said a search conducted in the room of the accused revealed six mobile phones, including three mobile money numbers used by the accused to receive money from victims.

Sgt. Sarpong told the court that police obtained an order from the court to conduct forensic examination on the phones.

He said after examination, one of the numbers was found to be registered in Vivian’s name which was the number used to receive cash deposits from other mobile money accounts.

The prosecutor said Vivian admitted being the owner of one of the MTN numbers used to transact the alleged criminality.