General News of Wednesday, 9 September 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

'Dr UN' could be punished for fraud

Kwame Owusu Fordjour carries himself as a UN Ambassador Kwame Owusu Fordjour carries himself as a UN Ambassador

The police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has not acted on the curious case of the Ghanaian who paraded himself falsely as a UN and Kofi Annan Ambassador.

Although the CID is yet to state an official position on the matter, GhanaWeb looked into what the fate of Kwame Owusu Fordjour would be if the police were to act.

Kwame Owusu Fordjour, who precedes his name with a “Dr,” dominated the headlines of major news outlets recently after it emerged that the awards and citations he presented to notable personalities in various fields of endeavour were all a sham.

Under the guise of working with the United Nations and the prestigious Dr Kofi Annan Foundation, his outfit, the Global Blueprint Excellence, organised an awards ceremony and presented trophies and citations to over 20 accomplished Ghanaian personalities who he described as having achieved extraordinary feats in their endeavours.

The UN and the Kofi Annan Foundation have since dissociated themselves from ‘Dr UN’.

According to a GhanaWeb source in the police, a cursory look of the issues presented by Mr Fordjour’s case suggests that his actions fall under fraud, which is one of the many types of Economic Crimes.



Fraud occurs when an act is done by one person with the intention that it should deprive another person of some value to which the person is otherwise entitled and when it, in fact, causes such loss.

“So, for instance, assuming he [Dr UN] had told anybody that he worked with the UN and based on which the person parted with money and led to losses, then criminal charges could be brought against him.

“They [the victims] could have paid money but it is important for the person to show proof that he dispensed with the money because of a misrepresentation he [Dr UN] made that turns out to be false,” the police source told GhanaWeb.

It has been alleged that some notable people who received the award paid various sums of money to support the awards scheme after being nominated, although GhanaWeb cannot independently authenticate this claim.

The police source told GhanaWeb that it is likely that the matter has already been taken up by the CID.

Because fraud is a criminal offence, the police can act even if a complaint has not been brought by an alleged victim of the fraud.

If found guilty of fraud by a court, 'Dr UN' could face a jail term or a fine.