Serial conman grabbed over GHC748,000

A conman who allegedly posed as a special assistant to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC), and defrauded victims of GHC748,000, has been busted in Kumasi.

Michael Asante, a 34-year-old self-styled lawyer, went into hiding in April 2017 when he succeeded in deceiving two contractors to part with GHC695,000 with a promise of securing them contracts to build oil storage tanks.

Before this, the accused person is said to have fraudulently collected an amount of GHC45,000 from some individuals under the pretext of securing them admission into tertiary institutions, getting them jobs in governmental agencies as well as enlist them into the security services.

ASP Juliana Obeng, Public Relations Officer of the Ashanti Regional Police Command, who disclosed this at a media briefing in Kumasi yesterday, said Michael Asante was arrested by a National Security operative on Tuesday, October 24, 2017 at Fumesua, near Ejisu, in his vehicle.

She stated that Asante, who is involved in a series of fraud cases in Accra and Kumasi, had been remanded into custody following a court order.

The police spokesperson revealed that the accused person, on some occasions, paraded himself as a law lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and travel consultant.

“Other times he presented himself as a senior attorney at the Attorney General’s office in Kumasi and succeeded in duping many of his victims with false representations,” she stressed.

ASP Juliana explained that Asante told his contractor victims that the GHC695,000 was to enable him facilitate the processes of securing them contracts to build oil storage tanks for the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).

She said the accused had admitted collecting the huge sum of money from the two contractors as well as other victims – who heard of his arrest and rushed to the Regional CID office to make complaints against him.

“The Ashanti Regional Police Command believes that there are victims who have fallen prey to his fraudulent activities” and urged them to come to the regional CID to assist in further investigations.