Seventy year-old man jailed three years for fraud

Yaw Akpah, a 70 year-old farmer, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for defrauding a chemical seller of six million cedis. He pleaded guilty.

Prosecuting Police Inspector Kofi Frimpong told the court presided over by Mr Francis Opoku that Akpah and Mr Vincent Afedo, a chemical seller both resident at Aflao became friends in March last year when Akpah introduced himself to Afedo as a clearing agent and lotto forecaster.


Inspector Frimpong said Akpa told Mr Afedo that he has some electrical gadgets including television sets, radio cassette players, gas cookers, video decks, fridges and typewriters to clear at Togo.


He said the Akpah demanded some money from Mr Afedo to help him clear the goods and promised to sell some to him.


Inspector Frimpong said the accused collected various sums of money amounting to six million cedis from Mr Afedo but failed to present the items to him.


He said at a time Akpa took Mr Afedo to a house at Aflao low-cost area and showed him a room in which he said the items were but did not open the door to the room explaining that he suspected that some people, who were drinking nearby were plain clothes Policemen, who might be watching them.

Inspector Frimpong said Mr Afedo became suspicious of Akpah's behaviour and reported him to officials of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) before whom he admitted the offence and promised to pay back in two weeks but went into hiding after a self-recognisance bail.


The Prosecution said in January, BNI officials rearrested Afedo and handed him over to the police for further investigations.


Inspector Frimpong said Akpah told the Police during investigations that he could not pay the amount because he used some of it for running his home, some for lotto and the rest for miscellaneous expenses.


In another development, a 34 year-old painter, Godwin Lawson, who was arrested near the Togo border by customs officials while attempting to cross with two electricity meters was sentenced to four years imprisonment with hard labour by the Aflao Circuit Court on Wednesday.


He pleaded guilty to stealing.

Inspector Frimpong told the court that Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) personnel, who were on duty at Akpokploe, an unauthorised route near the Ghana-Togo border on May 2 saw Lawson moving towards the border and they invited him for questioning.


He said two Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) meters with numbers 9010082 and 20501248 together with pliers, a screwdriver, a pinch bar and two small torches were found in a bag he was carrying.


Inspector Frimpong said Lawson told the Aflao Police that he was on his farm at Kpako Kope, near the border, when one Tata brought the items to him to cross with.


He said Lawson, however, failed to locate Tata's house and his own farm.