419 Scam: How Liberian refugees were conned

Ghana government last Thursday evacuated 113 Liberian refugees stranded on board a vessel 'MV MARl' at the Tema port for at least thirteen days. Government spent not less than 35,000 dollars as charter fee for Ghanair plane that sent the refugees made up of two pregnant women, 13 children and the rest adults to the Liberian capital Monrovia.

Acting NADMO Commander, Brigadier Joseph Odei led government delegation that accompanied the refugees .Three persons, one each from Nordic Shipping, owners of MV MARI, the captain and SIFAX, the charterers, were invited to assist police at the port to investigate the matter.

Information gathered by this reporter has it that MV MARI registered under Ghana flag was at Lome when the managing director of SIFAX AGENCIES Mike Nii Adjaye Oddoye, reportedly approached his counterpart from Nordic Shipping, Gilbert Agologo, to charter the vessel to cart rice to Monrovia from the Tema port .

Report was that the two parties entered into an agreement. Nordic Shipping wanted SIFAX to be responsible for fuel expenses from Lome to Tema, Monrovia and back to Tema. The vessel was chartered for 30 days at 51,000 dollars . It was reportedly agreed for SIFAX AGENCIES to make down payment of 70% of the total charter fee before sailing to Liberia and the balance 30% paid on return.

Armed with this , MV MARI was moved to the Tema port anchorage in readiness to load rice to Monrovia as allegedly agreed. Unknown to the vessel owners, one Patrick Gbarku, a Liberian, had gone to collect 110 dollars each from a number of his countrymen from their Buduburam camp as passage to enable them to travel with the ship to Monrovia.

As the vessel was bunkering at berth eight, the refugees some of who were running away from the crisis in the Ivory Coast were shoved onto the cargo ship.

This was done in the presence of officials from Ghana Immigration and the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) but the owners of MV MARI, on hearing of the passengers making the trip, rushed to the quay and attempted removing them, saying that was not the agreement they entered with SIFAX AGENCIES.

A scuffle reportedly ensued between officials of the two companies which ended at the Main Harbour Police station. At this stage personnel from Police and the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) stepped in and reportedly supervised the enshrining of a new agreement to enable the vessel to sail with the refugee-passengers and return with other passengers stranded in Liberia after fleeing the conflict in Ivory Coast.

Owners of the vessel who protested vehemently against using the cargo carrier to carry passengers reportedly told the security personnel to prepare an undertaking to ensure that MV MARI is assured entry into the Tema port arrival from Monrovia with passengers but this request was rejected hence the owners took the Swedish captain Stig Sluggers to a hotel at Community 5,Tema.

The captain on his part indicated his unwillingness to carry passengers with the vessel designed to take only cargo.

According to him under the international laws, he is going to be fined 50,000 dollars for each passenger that dies, if he uses the cargo ship to carry passengers.

The managing director of SIFAX, Mr. Oddoye told the press that he entered into an agreement with NORDIC boss which did not specify the type of cargo the vessel must be used to carry and therefore it is not true that the agreement they signed mentioned a particular item as alleged.

According to him, there has been a standing contract between his company and Mokmah Services of Liberia who had both cargo and passengers for Ghana.

On December 26, lasy, the Ghana Immigration Service, CEPS boarding officers, Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) officials and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) operations manager were all present at the checking-in of the refugees onto the ship. Thereafter all the passports were handed to the captain, while CEPS prepared Clearance Certificate for the vessel to sail to her destination.

SIFAX, he said, did not breach any contract with NORDIC, rather he was sympathizing with them when it became clear that the Liberian, Patrick Gbarku, their leader, had robbed them. He decided to sail the refugees to Liberia on humanitarian ground.

The managing director said port officials were present when they bunkered the vessel with 20 metric tons of fuel and that the GPHA can not pretend to be unaware of the vessel's mission.

He was therefore surprised to hear that the port operation manager, Jacob Adorkor, said they were not going to sail the vessel because it is a cargo carrier and not equipped to carry passengers.

In order to show his seriousness, the SIFAX boss claimed that he asked his bankers to withdraw a check for 1,600 dollars the company was paying to the ports authority representing port call charges.