Out-Of-Court Settlement

The two members of the nation’s first and second family who were involved in a ¢1.8 billion gang swindle last year are now heaving a sigh of relief as the whole matter is to be settled out of court.

The two, Farouk Mahama, son of Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama and Nana Poku, self-acclaimed “nephew” of President J.A. Kufuor, took the said money from a businessman, Mr Emmanuel Kwame Mainoo, under the pretext of helping him to clear a consignment of his ethanol that had been intercepted and impounded by the Custom, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) in March, last year.

The out-of-court settlement, The Enquirer was hinted, was brokered after a series of high-powered meetings between Mr Mainoo and some respected people.

So far, the two young men have not made any refund of the money to Mr Mainoo who is patently waiting for his money. But reliable sources indicate that Mr Mainoo will resort to court action to retrieve his money if no attempts are made by Farouk Mahama and Nana Poku to refund the ¢1.8 billion at a reasonable time.

The two young men, who were involved in a visa fraud last year, conspired to swindle the businessman of the money to help him retrieve his seized good from the Tema Port.

Mr Mainoo’s containers of ethanol imported from Canada were intercepted and impounded by CEPS because documents belonging to a Free Zone company were used in the clearance of the consignment on March 4, last year and the matter was referred to the National Security for investigations.

Just as the investigations commenced, Farouk Mahama approached Mr Mainoo, and told him that he was capable of handling the situation for him. Mr Mainoo started giving money to facilitate Farouk Mahama’s “Ways and Means” to help retrieve the good.

Farouk Mahama was able to convince Mr Mainoo to establish a company called FAMMEK Limited to facilitate their moves; Farouk Mahama had controlling shares in the said company.

After collecting close to ¢800 million, Farouk Mahama introduced Nana Poku to Mr Mainoo, with the excuse that he (Farouk) was traveling to South Africa and that Nana Poku was capable of handling affairs to perfection in his absence.

The victim doled out further millions of cedis to Nana Poku too, at various places and times, including the transfer of money into the account of Leticia Ofosu of Accra at the Trust Bank (Account number 115971201 with the intention of serving as a “link man’.

In order to accomplish their “mission”, the two mentioned the names of the Second Lady, Hajia Mahama, a Commissioner of CEPS, Mr Sam Yankyera and a Minister of State as some of the recipients of the money meant for the “Ways and Means.”

Both the Second Lady and Mr Yankyera denied knowledge of any such deal. The name of the Vice-President was also mentioned as having been notified of his son’s involvement in the scandal by a leading member of the NPP, but reportedly distance himself from the son’s unholy activities.