MP’s Gold Is Fake – Police Commander

The Greater Accra Regional Police Commander says the 50 kilogrammes gold dust which the Member of Parliament for Sene, Felix Twumasi Appiah allegedly attempted to sell to a dealer on the open market, have turned out to be fake.

Regional Commander ACP Douglas Akrofi Asiedu told a local radio station in Accra that tests conducted on the gold proved the whole lot was fake gold. “We took it to the Precious Minerals Company and the result is that the gold dust is fake. The gold dust is fake.”

Asked if there was no gold at all in the whole substance presented as gold but seized by the police, ACP Akrofi Asiedu responded, “No, no.” The Regional Police Commander said a docket on the case would be forwarded to the Attorney General’s office for advice and the police can only proceed from there.

The docket would include charges against the MP and three others who were arrested with him, who have all been granted bail. ACP Akrofi Asiedu said the MP has been notified he would be invited by the police whenever the need arose, while the others have been reporting periodically to the police. ACP Akrofi Asiedu explained that the police are able to prosecute certain cases directly without referring them to the Attorney General, however in other serious cases, such as murder, the police are duty bound to seek the counsel of the Attorney General.

He explained that the gold case was being referred to the AG’s office because it involved the MP who was also ‘talking too much.’ In the meantime, Mr. Twumasi-Appiah and the three others remain suspects. Police said they arrested the MP and the three others on November 24 on suspicion they were attempting to sell gold dust to the tune of 800,000 dollars thought to be fake to one Mr Charles Dejoe, a gold dealer.

Twumasi-Appiah later said he suspected the Greater Accra Regional Police Commander might have connived with suspects to sell the fake gold. His accusation was based on what he said was the conduct of ACP Akrofi Asiedu. Explaining grounds for his suspicion, the MP, who insisted his only role in the deal was to facilitate the transaction said when the police arrived and took custody of a metal box containing the entire amount of 50 kilogrammes of gold, he asked to be given the keys to padlocks to be used to lock up the exhibits since the quality of the gold was in dispute. This he said Akrofi refused.

“You broke a box up and then I insisted that you lock it back. You went to buy a padlock, I was prepared to pay for the padlock, you lock the stuff, I say give me the keys and lock the substance in your armoury. “ACP Akrofi emphatically told me I would not be the one to tell him how to do his job... ACP Akrofi having pronounced that the thing is fake, if we go to test and it’s genuine what do we do to him?

And beside that, now that he has the keys and the substance with him, wouldn’t there be any possibility that he can even switch the substance having said that it is fake to prove the point that the thing is fake or even reduce it in weight? So what is he talking about when he says the police are professionals and they are doing their job, I doubt, I doubt how professional they could be when they can behave in such a way.”