Two Cops In The Dock For Defrauding 36 People

Two police officers have appeared before the Accra Circuit Court for allegedly defrauding 36 people in the Ashanti Region under the pretext of enlisting them into the Ghana Police Service.

The two, Edward Bosomtwe Gyan and George Kwesi Appiah, pleaded not guilty to the charges and have been granted bail in the sum of GHC60,000, with two sureties to be justified within the Greater Accra Region.

They are to reappear on June 23, 2012.
Gyan and Appiah, together with their accomplice, Benjamin Anobiga, who is on the run, are alleged to have collected various sums of money amounting to GH¢50,000 from their victims and forged and issued a Ghana Police Service recruitment letter to them.

The facts of the case, as presented Friday to the Accra Circuit Court, presided over by Mr Francis Obiri, by a police prosecutor, DSP Aidan Dery, were that some time in 2011, the accused persons collected various sums of money from 36 people with the promise of assisting them to be enlisted into the Police Service.

After collecting the money from the victims, the accused persons are alleged to have forged the letterhead of the Ghana Police Service and the signature of its Director-General in charge of Human Resource Development.

They then gave the victims prospectus and letters which indicated that the victims should report to the Pwalugu Police Training School on June 11, 2011.

But DSP Derry said when the complainants arrived at the training school, there was nothing to that effect.

When that did not work out, the accused persons again, on October 10, 2011, asked the complainants to go for the training, but some of the complaints rather took their letters to the Police Headquarters, where they were told that their letters and prospectus were not genuine.

The victims then informed the police about the activities of thegroup, after which the police initiated investigations into the matter and the accused persons were later arrested and charged with conspiracy to defraud and defrauding by false pretence.

DSP Derry said the case would be sent to the Attorney-General’s Office for advice, since the accused persons are serving policemen.

He also prayed the court to issue a warrant for the arrest of Anobiga, who is on the run.