President JOY arrested for kidnapping

An Independent Presidential Candidate in the 2012 presidential election, Jacob Osei Yeboah aka JOY, was last Wednesday arrested and charged with assault and kidnapping after reportedly beating up his business partner and taking the latter hostage for hours.

The Airport District Police Command was on Tuesday night, around 10:00pm, called to rescue one Kofi Marfo at the Holiday Inn Hotel near the Kotoka International Airport in Accra where eyewitnesses said the violent act occurred.

Osei Yeboah was therefore charged with kidnapping and assault by the police and is expected at the police station today with his lawyer for possible arraignment.

According to reports from the Airport District Police Command, the incident occurred around 3:00pm on Tuesday.

Information gathered by DAILY GUIDE indicated that Mr Osei Yeboah arrested the victim, also a business partner, for introducing him to a France-based businessman who allegedly defrauded the 2012 presidential hopeful of an amount of $375,000.

Information gathered indicated that Kofi Marfo introduced the said French businessman to Mr. Osei Yeboah as one who was into gold business.

After realizing that he had been duped, the independent presidential candidate, who might join the Mahama administration if given the chance, visited the house of the victim on the Spintex road to arrest him.

After arresting Kofi Marfo, the suspect, together with his men, around 3:00pm that day, subjected the victim to severe beatings, after which he was allegedly locked up at the Holiday Inn Hotel.

Kofi Marfo, who sustained severe bruises on the face and some parts of his body, after his rescue by the police, was given a form for medical attention.

Osei Yeboah was invited the following day and kept in detention for close to three hours before he was granted bail, police sources told DAILY GUIDE.

When Mr. Osei Yeboah was contacted, he denied the allegations that he was actually defrauded, as a result of which he kidnapped the alleged fraudster.

According to him, he did not kidnap or assault anybody.

Explaining his side of the story to DAILY GUIDE, he said a man whom he suspected to be a fraudster tried to dupe a certain businessman and he caught him through his intelligence.

He said when he brought the scammer to his office and was interrogating him with regard to the fraudulent deal, the man tried running anyway and the security men around got hold of him.

He said the alleged fraudster’s gang then went to the Airport police station to report that he (JOY) had kidnapped and assaulted the man.

“The police is charging me for kidnapping and assault, what about the scamming, which I have documents and recordings to back my claims?” he questioned, adding that “I have been tracking the scammers for a very long time”.

He said he had intercepted a document in which President John Mahama’s name was used, in a fraudulent deal.

He said the fraud case was already being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at the police headquarters.