THE man who was arrested for attempting to use fake contract documents to withdraw money from the accounts of the Juaboso District Assembly was yesterday remanded in custody by the Takoradi Circuit Court.
The suspect, Nana Kwesi Okyere, was arrested when he presented a cheque at the Takoradi branch of the Bank of Ghana with the face value of GH¢37,800 and fake contract documents purported to contain details of the cost of a project awarded to him by the assembly.
He is to re-appear in court on October 14, 2010.
Okyere was said to have operated a syndicate and allegedly managed to swindle the assembly of more than GH¢200,000.
The cheque bore the signatures of the District Finance Officer, Frank Kojo Dadzie, and the District Co-ordinating Director, Mr Hammond, who were allegedly waiting for him outside the bank but bolted when Nana Okyere was arrested.
The fake contract documents also bore the forged signature of the District Chief Executive, Mr Solomon Fuakyie.
The police have initiated efforts to pick up the remaining members of the syndicate who were mentioned by the suspect.
The police said they followed up to a hotel where the suspect and his collaborators lodged, but they had checked out.
It would be recalled that at the just-ended Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee sittings in Takoradi, the Juaboso District Assembly was among those in the Western Region which could not account for certain monies paid to contractors.
The assembly could also not properly account for receipts of about GH¢300,000 under the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Fund and monies that accrued to the assembly from the District Assemblies Common Fund.
The assembly could not also recover about GH¢4 million being fees over-paid to contractors for various projects done.
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