Student dupes MP

A 36-year-old tertiary student, Ibrahim Kaleem, who allegedly swindled Godfrey Bayon Tangu, Member of Parliament (MP) for Wa East Constituency to the sum of GH¢16,500, was last Monday, October 11, 2010 arraigned before an Accra Circuit Court, following his arrest on October 4th this year from his hideout at Alajo in Accra.

Presenting the facts of the case in court, Superintendent Abichan Boye told the presiding Judge, Ivy Heward Mills, that the accused (Ibrahim Kaleem) reads Management Administration at the China University of Technology and Mines, where he is being sponsored by the MP.

Superintendent Boye said the accused returned to Ghana early this year to inform the MP of a gold deal he had brokered for him in China. The prosecutor continued that Kaleem impressed upon Hon. Tangu to register a business to enable him send the registration certificate to his partner in China; a request the MP reportedly granted.

Kaleem, according to Superintendent Boye, on April 15, 2010 took additional GH¢9,OOO from Hon. Tangu to enable him purchase a sample of gold dust to be sent to his clients.

Upon receiving the money and the certificate, the prosecutor said Kaleem left for China without informing Hon. Tangu. As if that was all, the prosecutor disclosed that the accused again wrote a letter to the Wa East District Assembly requesting for an amount of GH¢7,5O0 to be shared among himself and two other students from the district who were also being sponsored by the MP.

Again, Kaleem successfully received the money but decided to keep the money to himself and spend it alone. Kaleem, the prosecutor added, moved from China without informing the MP and his colleagues as well.

He was later arrested and arraigned before court for defrauding on false pretence. At the end of the court's sitting, Kaleem was granted bail with a sum of GH¢20,000.00 with three sureties. The case was adjourned to 18th October, 2010.