Weekly Insight

"NDC man in 350 million cedis fraud", is the banner headline of the Weekly Insight. The paper says the Castle security is busily investigating an allegation that Donald Charles Coker, who claims to be an NDC heavyweight, has duped a businesswoman to the tune of 350 million cedis. The Weekly Insight says Coker, who has two aliases, Senyo and Kwesi Nyame, allegedly also claims to be a confident of President Jerry John Rawlings. The paper quotes sources close to the investigation as saying that Coker befriended Madam Joyce Akyea, a London-based nursing agent and initially asked her for a loan of 10,500 pounds sterling to enable him to complete some projects he had started in the Volta Region. It says Madam Akyea, impressed by claims that Coker had very serious contacts in the government and in the NDC, gave him the loan without hesitation. Later, Coker was alleged to have asked Madam Akyea for another 5,000 pounds sterling to put finishing touches to the projects. Madam Akyea, the paper says then faxed an authority note to Coker to withdraw the 5,000 pounds from her account at the High Street branch of the Standard Chartered Bank in Accra. After withdrawing the 5,000 pounds, Coker allegedly used Madam Akyea's original fax to forge another one which enabled him to withdraw 15,000 pounds. The weekly Insight says Coker is alleged to have continued to use forged faxes to withdraw monies from the account until the total amount taken from Madam Akyea's account hit the 89,000 pounds mark. The paper says Madam Akyea also claimed that she bought a Toyota Land Cruiser and a Mercedes Bent car for Coker. According to the Weekly Insight, when Coker was picked up by the Castle Security personnel, he denied Madam Akyea's allegations, claiming that the woman is his wife. The paper quotes the Castle security as saying that they are determined to get to the bottom of the matter because of Coker's claim that he is a confident of President Rawlings and a heavyweight of the NDC. GRi