Ex-Black Stars Player admits money laundering

A FORMER Ghanaian international striker has admitted money laundering after transferring criminal property worth £278,532 from Ghana.

Elvis Hammond, 31, of Erskine Road, Sutton, who played in Cards' championship winning team last season, joined Victor Williams, 32, of Chandos Crescent, Edgware, north London, in the dock at Oxford Crown Court.


An investigation had been launched by Thames Valley Police’s economic crime unit in June 2009 when a payment was made to a bank account in the name of H & W Enterprise Ltd, supposedly a refund for a property deal in Ghana.


The money was frozen after it was taken from the account of a Ghanaian property development company, police said.


The unit worked with Ghana's police, and detectives travelled to Africa and discovered fraudulent documents showing four unauthorised transfers totalling $1.27m to the UK and Cyprus.

Police said Hammond and Williams, directors of H & W Enterprise Ltd, were charged in January 2010, but shortly before standing trial the pair provided sale contracts and plans purporting to show that Williams’ family had sold land in Ghana.


The trial was suspended and detectives again travelled to Ghana and obtained evidence to prove that the documents were false.


Following this both men pleaded guilty on the first day of the trial. They are due to be sentenced next Friday (June 8).