Police grab IKAM boss on dud cheque

Accra, April 16, GNA - Police on Friday arrested Steven Amoa-Marfo, Chief Executive of Megastar, a company that produces music and IKAM, a private security printing firm, on a reported case of fraud involving dud cheques of 10 billion cedis.

Superintendent Dennis Abade of the Police Vetting Criminal Intelligence and Analysis Unit (VCIA) told newsmen that the police were investigating the circumstances under which Amoa-Marfo issued two Merchant Bank cheques with number 400508 and number 400920 on account number 0010100472434, with a total value of eleven billion cedis meant for the complainant, Mr Emmanuel Duku Woode, without recourse to the rules and regulations guiding financial transactions in the country. Superintendent Abade said Amoa-Marfo on the January 3 this year took a loan of ten billion cedis from Mr Woode.

Mr Abade said Amoa-Marfo decided to pay back the loan by March 31 this year at ten per cent interest and therefore issued two post-dated cheques for 11 billion cedis.

He said unknowing to the complainant, who is also called Nana Woode, Amoa-Marfo did not have that much money in his account and therefore wrote to the bank not to honour the cheques but failed to inform Nana Woode.

Superintendent Abade said Nana Woode in his statement to the Police said he suspected fraud and therefore reported to the police, as Amoa-Marfo kept giving excuses for his inability to pay back the money. He said what broke the camel's back was when the chief executive of IKAM told him on April 4 that the Bank of Ghana had notified him that they did not have enough United States dollars to pay the amount. Superintendent Abade said the following day Amoa-Marfo informed him that Bank of Ghana had finally agreed to send the money in a bullion van to his office for Nana Woode to collect, but the story proved false. According to Mr Abade the actions of Amoa-Marfo were criminal, as Criminal Code stated that "any person who without reasonable excuse, proof of which shall

be on him, issues any cheques drawn on any bank with which he has no account shall be guilty of an offence".

The Criminal Code also states that any person "who stops or countermands any cheque previously issued by him shall be guilty of an offence".