Two pastors duped ?63 million

In their bid to make quick money, two servants of God, a Pastor and an evangelist have been duped to the tune of ?63 million. The con men made them to believe that by engaging in the purchase and resale of Decis, a chemical, they could become millionaires overnight.

They are Pastor Osei Kwame De-Graft Johnson of the Apostolic Faith Mission at Odorkor, and Evangelist Agnes Agyemang, and her husband, Nana Kwasi Agyemang of an unnamed church, in Accra.

They were duped ?18 million and ?45 million cedis respectively. The fraudsters, Kwaku Oppong, a trader, and Daniel Ofori, driver, were arraigned separately before an Accra Circuit Tribunal on Friday with defrauding by false pretences. They both pleaded not guilty and were remanded in custody. Ofori is to report again on February 13 and Oppong on February 15.

Chief Inspector Benedicta Akolgo told the tribunal, chaired by Mr Imoru Ziblim, that on January 5, Pastor Osei-Kwame received a phone call on his mobile set in which the caller claimed to be a member of his church based in Germany.

The caller then introduced to him someone called Peter Shoel who was his working partner in a fruit factory in Germany. According to the prosecutor, the caller told Pastor Osei Kwame that the factory was short of Decis, the main chemical used in processing the fruit, and said that Dr Duah at Takoradi, was the only person who imported the chemical from Saudi Arabia.

Consequently, he was given the said Dr Duah’s phone number to make contacts to purchase a quantity of the chemical for resale to Peter Shoel, who was due to arrive in Ghana on January 7, by KLM.

Pastor Osei Kwame then contacted Dr Duah and arrangements were made for the supply of six bottles of the chemical at 18 million cedis as samples. On January 7, the pastor was asked to meet the accused at Kasoa where he paid the amount in exchange for six bottles of the chemical.

Later, the accused went with the pastor to meet Peter Shoel at the airport but he did not turn up. Therefore, the complainant lodged a report with the BNI for the accused’s arrest.

In the case of Evangelist Agyemang and her husband, the prosecution said that someone called them on May 17, 2001 and introduced himself as her husband’s nephew based in France. The caller suggested a lucrative business involving a chemical called Decis which was used to spray apples and other fruits.