Marriage fraudster nabbed: female MPs among victims

A 38-year-old businessman has been arrested by personnel of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for allegedly defrauding a number of women of thousands of cedis, after striking marriage deals with them.

The suspect, Kofi Tekpor Mensah, who also carries himself as a medical doctor, was arrested on Tuesday in an Accra suburb by a team of police investigators.

A source at the CID Headquarters told the Times in Accra yesterday that Mensah had been on the police wanted list for a very long time, for duping a number of women of huge sums of money, after proposing to them and subsequently assuring them of marriage, or maintain a relationship.

His target, the source said, were mainly fair complexioned women of substance, especially those he suspected to be single and looking for male partners. Among his victims are some female politicians, including Members of Parliament.

The suspect's modus operandi, according to the source, was to keep a very steady relationship with his victims for a period of time, collect huge sums of money from her as loan to either expand his business or facilitate travelling documents and then he "vanished into the thin air."

However, after some tell-tale leads, the police succeeded in arresting him.

Mensah, according to the source, jumped bail thrice on similar charges pending before him at some courts in Accra.

The source said the suspect was assisting the police in their investigations, after which he would be put before court.