Crime & Punishment of Thursday, 17 July 2025

Source: GNA

Fake military officer, wife charged with fraud

A businessman accused of defrauding a lawyer of GHS192,000 has appeared before an Accra Circuit Court.

Mahama Saani Razak, alias Major Zack Gariba Tanko, is alleged to have impersonated a military officer and offered to deploy junior personnel to guard the complainant’s land at Kwabenya.

Police investigations later revealed he was not a member of the Ghana Armed Forces.

Razak has been charged with defrauding by false pretences.

He and his wife, Hudu Fatimata Neina, are facing additional charges of conspiracy to commit a crime, to wit, defrauding.

Both pleaded not guilty.


Presiding Judge Mrs. Evelyn Asamoah granted bail of GHS300,000 each, with two sureties to be justified with movable property.

The prosecution was ordered to file disclosures and witness statements by 30 July 2025. The case was adjourned to 8 August 2025.

Chief Inspector Ebenezer Teye Okuffo, prosecuting, stated that the complainant, a North Legon-based lawyer, was introduced to Razak in March 2025 by a friend who claimed he was in the military.

Razak, who claims to be a miner resident in Dodowa, allegedly took the complainant to Burma Camp and introduced himself as a Major with the Military Police.

He reportedly offered to “ward off” land guards from the complainant’s property using junior officers.

The complainant agreed and paid GH¢192,000, using mobile money channels linked to Hudu and two other individuals, Abdul-Aziz Alhassan and Isaaka Dogoma.

Razak and Hudu subsequently failed to honour the arrangement and went into hiding.

Following enquiries to the Ghana Armed Forces, the complainant discovered Razak was not a military officer and filed a police report.

According to the prosecution, Razak denied the allegations in his caution statement, while Hudu admitted receiving an undisclosed sum through her mobile account, which she withdrew on Razak’s behalf.

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