Suspect in TOR scandal re-arrested.

Page 31: Daily Graphic, February 16, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
AN alleged member of a syndicate which facilitated the illegal withdrawal of large sums of money from the accounts of some companies has been re-arrested for attempting to withdraw GH¢1,500 out of the GH¢89,000 which he had obtained from a similar scam.
Benard Sallah, alias Big Ben, who has been on bail in connection with similar cases involving the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), was arrested when he showed up to collect the cash at the bank.
Two of his alleged accomplices in the new scam, Mohammed Larrison, the Proprietor of Payless Wear Source Ltd, and Edward Ocloo, the Proprietor of Central Engineering Services, are being sought to assist in investigations.
Briefing the Daily Graphic yesterday, the Head of the Commercial Crime Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent Maame Yaa Tiwaa, said prior to his arrest, Sallah, also known as Alex Acheampong, had successfully withdrawn GH¢93,000 obtained from a similar scam and paid same into the account of Payless Wear Source Ltd whose owner, Larrison, withdrew the amount for the syndicate to share the booty.
Larrison is said to be in Germany at the moment.
Supt Tiwaa said one of the banks in the country called the company which had purportedly issued the cheque to verify whether it had, indeed, issued the cheque covering GH¢89,000 in the name of Central Engineering Services.
According to her, the company answered in the negative because Central Engineering had not undertaken any services for it.
Supt Tiwaa said checks by the company then revealed that one of its cheque books was missing and it, therefore, alerted the bank not to honour any cheque from that particular cheque book.
Incidentally, she said, the company had not even started using that particular cheque book.
She said the bank then alerted the police to the deal.
Supt Tiwaa said a team of investigators, led by ASP Ebenezer Nketiah, had laid ambush at the bank when Sallah, holding a passport bearing the name Alex Acheampong, went to collect the money on January 27, 2009.
Upon his arrest, she said, Sallah alleged that Edward Ocloo had sent him to cash the money.
She said it was during further investigations that it was established that Sallah and his group had, in the early part of January this year, withdrawn GH¢93,000 paid into the account of Payless Wear Source Ltd.
Supt Tiwaa said when Larrison was contacted in Germany, he admitted that he had assisted Sallah for the money to be paid into his account, as a result of which he (Larrison) was given a percentage.
Sallah, Mohammed Bagigah, alias Parker, said to be an expert in the forgery of signatures, and Frank Mensah Kpemli, alias George Owusu, were arrested in July 2007 after almost a two-year search for their alleged involvement in the multi-million forgery at TOR and GBC.