In connection with an alleged GH621,000.00 oil scam, an Accra Circuit Court has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of three people.
They are Simon Muelenga, Alhaji Abdul Samed, and Alhaji lddrisu Ibrahim.
On September 27, 2023, the accused must appear before the court presided over by Ellen Ofei-Ayeh to address the allegations of conspiracy, fraud, and issuing counterfeit checks.
The complainant, Ebenezer Martei, is a businessman who owns West Stream Dominion Enterprise and resides in Dansoman in Accra, according to the facts.
All three defendants—Ibrahim, Yusif, and Simon Muelenga—are claimed to be businesspeople and are still at large.
AlhaJi Ibrahim and Alhaji Yussif were presented to the complainant as merchants who needed him to provide them with gasoline and fuel on August 2, 2021.
To that end, they made the required preparations.
Alhaji Ibrahim bartered with the complainant in September 2021 to acquire 54,000 liters of gasoline and 54,000 liters of diesel, valued at 621,000.00, but after doing so, he neglected to pay the purchase price.
In light of this, the plaintiff attempted multiple times to get Alhaji Ibrahim to pay the purchase price, but he was unsuccessful.
The court was told that Alhaji Ibrahim thereafter begged the complainant for time to settle the bill because he had invested his money in a vessel that he had acquired.
After some time had passed, Alhaji Ibrahim and Alhaji Yussif went to the complainant and informed him that they had a business partner named Muelenga in South Africa with whom he had a haulage company.
Alhaji Ibrahim wanted US$35,000 to finish his second investment of the complainant’s funds in two weeks so that he could pay the complainant his money for the oil and also return the US$35,000.
According to testimony given to the court, the accused individuals were able to defraud the complainant out of US$35,000.
After the two weeks had passed, the complaint requested payment.
Alhaji Ibrahim presented him with a check from the Kasoa branch of Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited in the sum of GH621,000 in the name of West Stream Dominion Enterprise.
On April 20, 2022, it was submitted at the Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited Accra Main Branch, where it was refused on the grounds that there were insufficient money in the account to cover the cheque’s stated amount.
The accused were notified through phone to appear at the station to aid in the investigation after the complainant filed a police report, but they withdrew until Alhaji Ibrahim was apprehended on June 4, 2023.
Muelenga has so far refunded $6,000.