Guinean dupes motor companies of GH¢1.8m & $200,000
A 26-year-old Guinean, described by the police as an international fraudster, is in the grip of the police for allegedly duping automobile companies in Ghana to the tune of GH¢1.8 million and $200,000.
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The suspect, Alpha Diallo Amadou, a financial analyst, is alleged to have posed as the Head of the Procurement and Shared Services Department of Société Générale Ghana Limited and official of Ecobank Ghana Limited to dupe the automobile companies.
Apart from Ghana, Amadou, who is said to have perpetrated his criminal activities with eight different names, is said to have defrauded a number of automobile companies in six other countries.
Fake identity
The names the suspect allegedly used were given by the police as Chris Anderson, Conde Muhammed, Dekleau No gang Rilke Wilfrith, Rilk Wilfrith Dacleu Idrac, Chris Thomas Anderson Clay, Jean-Phillipe Largarde, Jean Dominique Largarde and Richard Domchey.
Investigations have also revealed that he had earlier defrauded companies in Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Benin, Cameroon, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.
Additionally, Amadou, using a fake identity as Conde Mohammed, is said to have forged many documents to make him the Financial Manager of MTN Ghana to facilitate his stay at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra.
Through the forged documents, the management of the hotel were instructed to surcharge MTN Ghana with all bills that would be incurred by the financial manager.
During Amadou’s two-week stay at the hotel, he incurred a total cost of GH¢19,347.32.
Fake stamps
Briefing journalists in Accra yesterday, the Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Commissioner of Police Mr Prosper K. Agblor, said a search in the suspect’s hotel room revealed that he had a number of address stamps from different companies, including Société Générale Ghana Limited, Toyota Ghana, Ecobank, MTN, Visa Budget, Budget Approval and Banque Internationale Pour Le Commerce et L'industrie De La Cote d'Ivoire (BICICI).
“All the stamps are believed to have been forged,” he said.
The police, he said, also retrieved copies of forged letters which the suspect had written and submitted to eight companies requesting to transact business with them
They included Ecobank, DENG, Dizengoff, Mechanical Lloyd, Stallion, Mantrac, MTN and Total Ghana.
He had requested to purchase vehicles, electric generating sets, among other items, and some of the companies were due to deliver them by June 17, 2015.
Mr Agblor said various documents, including copies of pages of United States of America (USA) passport, were also retrieved from the suspect.
How suspect was arrested
He said on June 11, 2015, the suspect, using the name Chris Anderson, introduced himself as the Head of the Procurement and Shared Services Department of Societe Generale Ghana Limited and sought to buy three Porche vehicles worth GH¢1.8 million from Universal Motors for some staff of the bank.
To support his claim, the CID boss said, the suspect submitted a number of documents purported to have originated from the bank. But the company suspected fraud and informed the CID.
Unknown to Amadou that the police were monitoring his movements, Mr Agblor said, he arrived on the premises of Universal Motors in a Mitsubishi 4x4 vehicle, with registration number GR 6132 -15, in the company of two others to take delivery of the vehicles.
The two suspected accomplices were later found to have been hired by the suspect, who had paid them GH¢50 for their services to help him drive the cars to his hotel.
After the signing of the necessary documents, Amadou took delivery of the cars, but was shortly arrested by undercover policemen.
During interrogation, Mr Agblor said, Amadou admitted he was not an official of Societe General Ghana Limited and that the documents he had presented were fake.
Police intelligence, he said, also gathered that he had used the same modus operandi to take delivery of three Mitsubishi Pajero vehicles and one Citroen saloon car worth $200,000 from CFAO Motors on June 11, 2015.
The vehicles, which had been parked at the parking area of the Labadi Beach Hotel where the suspect was lodging, had since been retrieved.
The director general said the suspect told investigators that he had plans of selling the cars in Cote d’Ivoire.
He said Amadou had since been charged with forgery of document, defrauding by false pretence and attempting to commit crime, to wit, defrauding by false pretence.
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