A Nigerian ex-convict who served a seven-year jail term at the Nsawam Prison has been sentenced again to serve another eight years imprisonment for impersonating the Executive Director of Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), Commissioner of Police (COP) Maame Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, and defrauding police personnel.
In a newspaper report by the Chronicle on Friday, May 12, 2023, the convict, whose name is given as Bright Daniels, was convicted yesterday by an Accra Circuit Court, presided over by Her Honour Owusuaa Appiah, on conspiracy to commit a crime and defrauding by false pretence, after a full trial.
According to the report, the convict allegedly conspired with another Nigerian ex-convict, Livinus Amadianaez Ugwu, to create a fictitious Facebook account for the Commissioner of Police and defrauded police personnel using the supposed social media account.
At the time, Maame Tiwaa Addo-Danquah was serving as the Director of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service.
The police victims were lured to pay sums of money to Daniels and his accomplice to have them enlisted to serve in the United Nations and the African Union Mission, which turned out to be false.
The prosecuting officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Emmanuel Nyamkye, mentioned COP Mrs. Addo-Danquah as the complainant and the other accomplice, Livinus Amadianaez. Ugwu, according to the report is currently on the run.
The newspaper further stated that the prosecuting officer told the court that the convict, Bright Daniels and Livinus Amadianaez Ugwu, are both ex-convicts, and Bright had finished his seven-year jail term at the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons.
The Chronicle explained that on April 20, 2021, a fake Facebook Messenger account was created in the name of "COP Maame Tiwaa Addo-Danquah" with her picture and used to scam police personnel by soliciting money under the pretext of providing them slots to UN and AU missions in Somalia and Sudan.
One victim paid GH$10,000 to a mobile money account number that was traced to be around Nsawam Medium Security Prisons in the Eastern Region, leading to the discovery of the identity of the user of the phone number as Daniels.
Further investigations revealed that Daniels conspired with Livinus to use the name and photograph of the complainant to collect money from police personnel. Daniels admitted to the offense and was charged and brought before the court.
Share your news stories and ideas with GhanaWeb
To advertise with GhanaWeb
Watch the latest edition of BizTech and Biz Headlines below: