VISA FRAUD ...George Darko Accused

Burger highlife originator George Darko stands accused for allegedly defrauding a Senior Secondary School (SSS) graduate of $3,500 under the pretext of securing him a visa to The Netherlands.

The victim, Master Ernest Tinda, feels even more frustrated with the Commander of the Osu Police Station, ASP Obeng, who he claims has refused to commit the veteran musician to trial because "it will be a waste of time and resources to put George Darko before court, more so because there are a number of such cases before the law courts". ASP Obeng however conceded in an interview with Weekend Heritage that George Darko admitted the offence in his caution statement to the police, but argues that it would be more prudent to persuade the musician to refund the money.

Speaking to the Weekend Heritage, Tinda said he suspects George Darko, who is also the Tufuhene of Akropong Akwapim with the stool name Nana Ampem Darko, is using his status to influence justice with the connivance of the Osu Police Commander.

In his narration to this newspaper, Tinda said he was introduced to George Darko sometime in June 2001 through one Apollo, a friend of the musician, who informed him (Tinda) that the ace musician was going to perform at a show in Germany and therefore needed some people to join him on the trip at a fee of ?8.5 million for commitment and processing of visas.

Tinda said he expressed interest in the deal and a meeting was later arranged between him and Mr. Darko during which the transaction was sealed after the fee had been bargained down to ?8 million.

He said later in July 2001, Mr. Darko accompanied him and seven others to The Netherlands Embassy in Accra, ostensibly for the processing of the visa but they were denied the visa because the officials at the Embassy detected that the passports of the applicants had been tampered with.

Tinda alleged that Mr. Darko quickly arranged and refunded the monies to the seven others, leaving him out with the explanation that he (Mr. Darko) would find another way of securing the visa for him but that would require additional $3,500.

"Since I was so desperate to travel abroad I agreed and added ?5.5million and ?280 in addition to the ?8million I paid earlier", the victim added.

Tinda said Mr. Darko however left for Holland to perform his show after collecting those monies without processing the visa for him.

Three months later, Tinda said, he contacted Mr. Darko at his base in Holland to find out how far he had gone with the processing of his documents and that he was assured by the musician that he would soon be coming down to Ghana for holidays and would therefore use that period to secure the visa for him.

Master Tinda told Weekend Heritage that Mr. Darko arrived in Ghana one year later in August 2002, but gave him another story to the effect hiplife artiste, Kontihene was also scheduled to performe in Germany and would arrange for him (Tinda) to join the team that would be travelling with Kontihene.

At this point, Tinda said he started sensing fraud and so he made a formal report to the Osu Police Station on April 14, this year. Since then, Tinda said he has been shuttling between home and the Osu Police Station without any sign that he would have his money refunded to him nor the case put before court.