A man who allegedly impersonated Joshua Alabi, a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), to defraud a Council of State member, has appeared in court.
Nurudeen Abdul Ganew, 40, has been charged with impersonation and defrauding by false pretences.
Ganew, a businessman, together with his two brothers, Nurudeen Rashid and Nurudeen Gafaru, have been jointly charged with conspiracy to commit crime by an Accra Circuit Court.
They have denied the various charges and have been admitted to bail in the sum of GH¢150,000 with three sureties, one to be justified.
Prosecution was ordered by the court, presided over by Mrs Sedinam Awo Kwadam, to reappear on July 21, 2025.
Ganew is said to have presented himself on March 3, 2025, as Joshua Alabi to commit a crime, namely, defrauding by false pretences, the facts before the court revealed.
Ganew, who claimed to work with the Ghana Revenue Authority, on the same day, made the same representation to Hakeem Addae, the Council of State member, who parted with GH¢60,000 cash to secure a Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle and later ten trucks at auction.
Prosecution said Ganew was tracked and arrested at his house at Wa in the Upper West Region.
During the arrest, four Identity cards, three pen drives, four mobile phones and cash of GH¢14,896 were retrieved.
On July 2, 2025, Rashid and Gafaru were arrested at Subinso, a suburb of Wenchi, by the National Signal Bureau.
A search on their residence revealed over 12 assorted mobile phones with 12 MTN Sim Cards, one Telecel sim card, a database of Constituency Executives of Political Parties in all the 16 regions being stock of targets, proceeds and state of Mobile Money sim cards.
Some of the SIM cards retrieved from Rashid and Gafaru happened to be the contact numbers that were sent by Ganew to the complainant, where he deposited the money.
Further investigations, the prosecution said, established that the three accused persons (siblings), residing in Wa and Subinso-Wenchi, had formed a syndicate where they impersonated high-profile personalities such as politicians to defraud people.
The accused persons targeted mostly chiefs, queen mothers, politicians, and companies, among others.
Ganew was found to be the architect of the syndicate, usually playing the role of calling the victims, and when he succeeded, the two other accused persons withdrew the funds across several mobile money merchant vendors in Wa, Wenchi, Sunyani, Techniman, Koforidua, Accra, among other areas.
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