Chief in police custody for fraud

The Paramount Chief of the Aflao Traditional Area, Togbui Amenya Fiti V, has been arrested for allegedly defrauding a businessman of more that GH¢20,000.

His arrest at Aflao on Thursday was in response to a circuit court warrant issued on Wednesday to that effect.

He is currently in custody at the head¬quarters of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service.

The chief allegedly collected the money in two tranches of GH¢14,060 and GH¢21,090 for the supply of 5,000 bags of cement from Diamond Cement Ghana Limited.

Togbui Fiti, however, managed to sup¬ply 1,000 bags of cement and refunded only GH¢2,500 to the complainant, Armani Garba, a businessman at Awoshie in Accra.

The Deputy Director-General of the CID, ACP Ken Yeboah, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that sometime in May, 2008, the complainant, Mr Armani Garba, travelled to Aflao with the view to buying cement from Diamond Cement Ghana Limited for sale.

He said due to difficulties in getting the cement, a witness in the case advised Mr Garba to contact Togbui Fiti because he was a friend to the top management of the company.

ACP Yeboah said on May 5, 2008, the witness led Mr Garba to the private home of the accused at Aflao.

According to him, at a meeting with the complainant and the witness, Togbui Fiti allegedly boasted that he was the owner of the land on which Diamond Cement was operating and indicated that whatever quantity of cement he needed would be supplied to him.

ACP Yeboah said with that represen¬tation, Togbui Fiti demanded and collect¬ed GH¢14,060 being the cost of 2,000 bags of the cement.

"This was with the understanding that even though the cement was selling at GH¢6.73 per bag, complainant should pay GH¢7.30 for each bag”, he explained.

He said the accused also collected GH¢200 for the visit to his house and promised to deliver the cement within two weeks.

ACP Yeboah said a second business¬man, Mr Abubakar Halidou, who is the proprietor of H. Lab Ventures, on hearing what had transpired between Mr Garba and the accused, contacted the same wit¬ness, who led him to the residence of Tog¬bui Fiti on May 8, 2008.

He said with the same representation, the accused demanded and collected GH¢21,090 for the supply of 3,000 bags of cement, paying the same price as Mr Garba per bag.

He said the accused also collected GH¢200 from Mr Halidou for visiting him.

ACP Yeboah said when the cement was supplied to the accused; he allegedly sold the cement to someone in Benin.

He explained that the complainants then made several efforts to have their cement supplied to them without success.

He said sometime in July 2008, the accused asked Mr Halidou to bring three articulated trucks to Aflao to convey the cement but it turned out to be a hoax.

According to him, the accused caused the Aflao police to arrest and detain the complainants when the two men went to the palace to demand a refund of their money or the cement.

ACP Yeboah said the complainants then petitioned the Director-General of the CID to investigate the matter.

He said based on the petition, Tobgui Fiti was invited to the CID headquarters, where he allegedly admitted defrauding the complainants.

He said a sub-chief of the accused, Togbui Kporvi, told the investigators that Togbui Fiti sold the cement to one Alhaji Mulanga of Benin.

ACP Yeboah said the accused, in the course of investigations, supplied 1,000 bags of the cement and paid GH¢2,500 and had since refused to respond to invi¬tations by the police.

He explained that it was based on that that the police sought a warrant from the court to effect the arrest of Togbui Fiti.