Attorney-General reveals that in the case involving Mr. Percival Kofi Akpaloo of the Liberal Party of Ghana, Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) flagged and filed a suspicious transaction report with First Bank Ghana regarding transactions on an account belonging to Pomaah Universal (Gh.) Ltd.
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Following the STR by the FIC, the EOCO begun an investigation into the matter. The investigations revealed that Pomaa Universal (Gh.) Ltd, a business entity owned entirely by Akua Pomaa, was the legitimate contractor that was awarded a COCOBOD feeder road contract.
The contract, valued at over Ghs29.5 million, was awarded in December 2020. Although the project commenced and an initial payment was properly deposited into Pomaa Universal Limited account, subsequent payments raised serious concerns regarding misrepresentation, forgery, and unauthorized handling of cheques.
Investigations revealed that Akpaloo secretly incorporated a separate company, Pomaah Universal (Gh.) Ltd, deliberately designed to closely resemble Pomaa Universal (Gh.) Ltd, differing only by the addition of an “h.”
Between December 2022 and June 2024, Akpaloo collected eight cheques issued by COCOBOD in the name of Pomaa Universal (Gh.) Ltd, totaling Ghs3,169,432.22, and deposited them into the account of his own company at First Bank Ghana.
Again, investigations confirmed that Akua Pomaa was unaware of both of the existence of Pomaah Universal (Gh.) Ltd and the diversion of funds until COCOBOD contacted her in June 2024 regarding outstanding balances on the contract.
She subsequently discovered that Akpaloo had collected and misdirected the payments without her consent. Akua Pomaa also alleged that Akpaloo forged her signature on the COCOBOD contract using her former name, Mercy Owusu, to secure the agreement without her authorization.
First Bank Ghana’s internal investigations corroborated the fraud allegations, concluding that Akpaloo knowingly misrepresented ownership of the cheques and deposited them into the wrong account.
The bank acknowledged operational failures in detecting discrepancies between the cheque payee names and the account numbers.
The suspects who have been investigated are Percival Kofi Akpaloo, Pomaah Universal (Gh.) Ltd, and Delvine Akpaloo, the spouse of Percival Kofi Akpaloo.
The evidence shows that they engaged in various criminal offences including stealing, forgery and money laundering and will be charged in January.
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