A 38-year-old man who posed as a bodyguard at the Office of the President has been jailed 10 years for duping a couple at Obuasi. The convict, Nana Osei Kwadwo, posed as an official from the Castle and succeeded in duping the couple in the sum of ?45 million.

Presenting the facts to the court, presided over by Mr Justice E. A. Asante, the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Cyril Ackom said the complainant is a banker and his wife is a civil servant. Both are working at Obuasi.

He said sometime in January, this year, Osei Kwadwo visited the Adansi West District Chief Executive and introduced himself to the DCE's secretary as a personal bodyguard of the President.

The accused allegedly told her that he would be travelling with the President to the United States of America (USA) on a special assignment and that if the secretary's husband was interested in travelling abroad, he could process travelling documents, including a USA visa, for him.

Convinced by the accused's statement, the secretary called her husband on her mobile phone and narrated the story to him and he readily expressed interest in the transaction.

Mr Ackom said both the complainant and the accused later met to formalise everything. During the meeting the latter collected the complainant's passport, four passport pictures and various sums of money in Euros, US and Canadian dollars totalling ?45 million.

The prosecutor said the accused, after collecting the money and the items, started playing hide-and-seek with the couple until February when information reached them that the impersonator had been involved in an accident at Anwiankwanta, near Bekwai, and had been admitted to the AGC Hospital at Obuasi.

Mr Ackom said the couple therefore visited him at the hospital but he was transferred to the Ridge Hospital in Accra the following day for treatment.

The prosecutor said the complainant followed up to Accra and demanded the refund of his money but the accused pleaded with him to pay all his hospital bills so that after he had been discharged he could continue with the processing of the travelling documents.

The couple agreed and paid for the medical bills and when the accused was discharged, they brought him to Obuasi to undergo herbal treatment too.

However, when his health improved, he started giving flimsy excuses any time he was asked about the travelling documents.

The prosecutor said on June 3, this year the accused went to the Ghana Railway Police Unit of the Ghana Police Service and caused an entry to be made in the station diary that he had come from the Office of the President and that he was at Obuasi on duty.

Mr Ackom said when the complainant later realised that the accused had defrauded him he reported the matter to the police who arrested him.

In his ruling, Mr Justice Asante noted that the prosecution had proved its case beyond any reasonable doubt and sentenced him accordingly.The court also ordered the accused to refund the ?45 million to the complainant.