Danish man loses $93,000 to 3 Sakawa boys

Three persons are before an Accra circuit court for allegedly defrauding one Poul Muller, a Danish consultant, in the sum of $93,200.

They are Karim Yahaya, unemployed; Desmond Agyei Asamoah, security man and Vanessa Twumasi, student, all based in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.

The trio according to the prosecutor, Chief Superintendent Duuti Tuaruka, between January and February this year in Accra and Kumasi, conspired and defrauded Poul by falsely claiming that Karim was one Rose Gary, a white lady resident in Ghana who could supply him with gold.

Karim has been slapped with other charges of forgery of documents.

Other accomplices: Jacinta Konadu, seamstress and Asamoah have been charged with money laundering while one Rahim Yahaya, unemployed and Jacinta also face an additional charge of abetment of crime.

In a court presided over by Aboagye Tandoh, the accused persons variously denied the charges and were remanded until June 14.

The facts of the case are that in August 2015, Karim sent a mail to Poul posing as a white lady by name Rose Gary and informed the complainant that he was a nursing student in Neuman, a private university in Kumasi.

The prosecution said Karim and Vanessa communicated on Skype with Poul in order to confirm that he (Karim) was a lady, adding that based on this, Poul fell in love with Karim.

Chief Supt Tuaruka said in October 2015, Karim forged Ghana Police Service official documents to support his claim that he had had an accident and needed to pay a court fine based on which he collected $8,000 through Western Union money transfer.

The police officer said Karim, still posing as Rose, forged Ghana Health Service documents and with them, collected $8,000 from Poul and that in January 2016, Karim and Jacinta spoke to the complainant as the’ white lady and informed him of an inheritance of gold left behind by the late parents which was in the custody of Kosa Security and Safe Keeping, a company based in’ Kumasi.

The prosecutor said that Asamoah, posing as a lawyer, sent a confirmation to Poul that the said gold was in safe hands.

He said Karim and Jacinta sent Poul·their Ecobank account numbers for an amount of $75,000 to be paid in for the payment of court charges, Ghana Customs charges and transfer of ownership of the inheritance into the name of the said Rose for shipment to Poul.

Accused persons, in their quest to convince Poul, forged and sent him Registrar General Department’s certificate to commence business, Ghana Bar Association certificate of membership, Ministry of Interior certificate of membership and Ghana Health Service official receipt.

In February 2016, Poul paid $20,000 and $55,000 into the accounts of Jacinta and Asamoah respectively. They withdrew the amounts from their accounts and handed over same to Karim, who gave them GH¢10,500 and GH¢6,500 respectively as their shares of the booty.

In March 2016, Poul Muller was invited by the accused persons to Ghana to meet Karim and also collect the gold, but he became stranded at the Kotoka International Airport, leading to the arrests of the accused persons at their various hideouts.