Man Impersonates Nduom-and defrauds Priest

A man described by the police as one of Ghana’s most celebrated fraudsters has been arrested.

Micael Anthony Quantse, 34, who operates under 10 different names was grabbed when he impersonate and presented himself as Dr. Kwesi Nduom, Minister of Economic Planning and Integration to defraud a revered minister.

He so mesmerised Reverend James Nii Amponsah of Accra and succeeded in defrauding him to the tune of 30 million cedis.

Quanste, after his arrest, was quickly arraigned before the Accra Circuit Tribunal on Friday, September 21, and the Judge, Imoro Ziblim has remanded him in prison custody until Thursday, October 11.

The court had heard that Quantse on various dates, used the name of Dr. Kwesi Nduom, and a medical officer, Dr. Kofi Nyametse, and collected an amount of 5.7 million cedis from Rev. James Nii Amponsah in the name of a non-existing company, Padway Ghana Limited.

He told the man of God that the monies were meant for the Minister who is a partner in the company. The suspect also employed the same tactics to collect an Opel Kadett Caravan and a Renault Estate private car from the victim with the promise to pay 3.1 million cedis and 3 million cedis respectively within a month but vanished after collecting the cars.

Quantse also collected 60 bags of rice worth 12.2 million cedis from Rev. Amponsah with the pretext of cooking them for a large American delegation of Padway Ghana Limited, whom he claimed were due to arrive in the country, but instead sold them and pocketed the money.

Rev. Amponsah said he obliged to the request because the suspect had used the Minister’s name and thought it was a genuine business.

He disclosed that his suspicion heightened after he made enquiries at the office of the Minister where the Minister’s secretary denied any relationship between the suspect and the Minister.

Rev. Amponsah also said, he later made enquiries at the Register General’s Department only to realise that Padway Ghana Limited has not been registered as a company.

Rev. Amponsah said it was then that he realised that he had been defrauded and reported the suspect’s conduct to the Tesano Police an August 28 who effected his arrest.

“What is painful is how I hosted the suspect in my house and gave him a treatment befitting a business tycoon,” said Rev. Amponsah.