Businessman wanted by Police for defrauding British investors to the tune of $1 million
A Ghanaian businessman is under chase by Police following a bench warrant for his arrest by the Accra Circuit court. This was after he failed to appear before the court as summoned.
Alhaji Siba Yahaya managed to convince his British investors that he will provide them with gold, and through that managed to defraud them of the large sum by numerous means of deception.
According to reports, Alhaji Yahaya met two British businessmen and their partners in 2020 and was introduced to them as a gold trader. Yahaya and an accomplice showed them 20kg of gold bars, convincing the investors he could procure the quantities of gold they needed to purchase.
The investors demanded to purchase 5kg of gold and Yahaya charged them $69,000 as initial part payment for the transaction. He issued them a receipt and promised to export the gold to them via Dubai.
Sources claim that he initially exported only 1kg of the gold then later started demanding more cash to solve ‘problems’ he claimed to have run into exporting the rest of the gold.
“Yahaya explained that he could not export the appropriate quantity of gold because of delays in the documentation process by Customs officials at the Kotoka International Airport and promised to export the remaining quantity to the investors on December 3, 2020, but failed to do so.
He later requested $130,000, being the outstanding payment for the four kilogrammes of gold and also took $70,000 from the investors to guarantee the export of the rest of the gold.
During the Covid-19 era, he used it as an excuse for failing to transport the rest of the gold as borders were closed. He further on told the investors the quantity of gold being transported was too small hence he would add 6kg more to it bringing the total to 10 kilogrammes.
He later demanded $300,00 from the investors saying he has been arrested by EOCO and he needs to make that payment before the gold will be released to him. The money was sent as demanded bringing the total amount Yahaya had collected from them to $1,075,000.
A few days after, that was when the issue became a Police case and he was arrested and charged with conspiracy to defraud by false pretences, defrauding by false pretences and selling and buying minerals without a licence.
The Accra Circuit Court granted him bail but he has since being on the run. The police are currently on a man-hunt for him.
By: George Addo | Join our Telegram Channel
