Accra, June 22, GNA - An Accra Regional Tribunal on Thursday issued a bench warrant for the arrest of a trader, who had defrauded three people of more than 100 million cedis.

The order became necessary because when the case came up for hearing on Thursday, George Nana Frimpong was absent. Frimpong is alleged to have conspired with 93a White man=94, now at large, to defraud Richard Nkum, a driver; Kwame Asare-Bediako, a teacher; and John Addae, an administrative assistant, of various sums of money with the pretext of securing for them German visas. The facts of the case as told to the court by the Prosecution were that between January 2006 and May 2006, Frimpong and the White man, collected 45.4 million cedis from Nkum; 40 million cedis from Asare-Bediako and 10 million cedis plus 3,500 pounds from Addae. According to the Prosecution, the relatives of the three people, who were resident abroad, rang them to contact Frimpong to secure German visas for them.

The Prosecution said after they had parted with the various sums of money, Frimpong collected their passports and returned them with photocopies of forged visas embossed in them. After he had given his clients May 21 as their departure date, the accused person switched off his mobile phone and when the three could not reach him on that day, they reported the matter to the Police. Upon his arrest, Frimpong admitted the offence and mentioned the runaway White man as his accomplice. The Police have so far retrieved 40 million cedis from Frimpong.