A 40-year-old man is in the grips of the East Legon Police for allegedly using the name of Ghana First Company Limited – a waste management company – to defraud unsuspecting victims under the pretext of awarding them contracts to construct toilet facilities in some market places.
The suspect, Rockson Adu Boahen, was arrested on Sunday by the police upon a tip-off, after officials of Ghana First received several complaints from the victims who had been defrauded; they reported the matter to the police.
It is believed that the suspect had robbed the victims of over GH¢500,000.
Briefing the media, Frank Akuley, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana First Company Limited, said the company had been in existence for some time and had been working with over one hundred contractors.
He indicated that the company had entered into a public private partnership (PPP) with metropolitan, municipal and district assembles (MMDAs) to construct ultra-modern toilet facilities in market places, lorry stations and other public places.
He disclosed that in October this year, the company received several complaints from some contractors who invaded their East Legon office for funding for their projects.
He asserted that checks through the company’s files revealed that no such contracts had been awarded to the said complainants and so the matter was reported at the East Legon Police Station for investigations.
“While the police investigated their case, our company also conducted its own internal investigations and discovered that suspect Rockson Adu Boahen was the man behind the criminal act,” he added.
He said the affected contractors were asked to bring their documents for further verification and scrutiny and it was at that point that the company discovered that the suspect had cloned the letterhead of the company and forged the signatures of the CEO and his deputy operations director, Barimah Atuahene, to conduct his nefarious activities.
The suspect was therefore arrested and handed over to the East Legon Police for investigations at Fishpond, where he had rented an office for his activities.
The Mr. Akuley added that some contractors who were awarded contracts through middlemen have been chasing the sanitation minister for funding adding that any person who has been awarded a contract through Ghana First must come to them for their funding and not the ministry.
“We have been given the letter of introduction from the local government ministry and sanitation and we secured our own funding for such project and so contractors who want contracts for our projects must come to us for negotiation and terms involved and not the sanitation ministry,” he declared.
Meanwhile, the police have since commenced investigations into the matter.
