Evangelist defrauds 75 year-old man

Page 20: Daily Graphic, March 6, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE police have mounted search for an evangelist, Grunt Man Darko, for allegedly defrauding a company of $52,000 and £4,000.
The Kumasi-based evangelist, who is alleged to be operating a non-governmental organisation, Grace Aid Foundation, allegedly collected the money to facilitate the construction of 125 boreholes by Sadduck Drainage Water Company at East Legon on behalf of the European Commission (EC).
Police sources said after collecting the money sometime in April last year, Evangelist Darko went into hiding.
A source close to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service told the Daily Graphic last Wednesday that Evangelist Darko was introduced to the Chief Executive of the company about six years ago.
During the period, it said, Evangelist Darko used to visit the family during which visits they held prayer sessions.
According to the source, the evangelist, who is believed to be hiding in Kumasi or Koforidua and their environs, later informed his unsuspecting victim about the award of contract by the EC to the Grace Aid Foundation for the construction and provision of boreholes for a number of communities in Ghana.
The source said Darko then informed his victim that he (Darko) wanted him to undertake the project on his (suspect’s) behalf and requested for the said amount.
It said because of the relationship that existed between the victim and Darko, the victim, who is 75 years old, decided to mobilise resources, including the sale of parcels of land at East Legon belonging to his son, to raise the amount to pay Darko.
It said the victim became convinced when Darko produced a letter dated March 27, 2008, purported to be emanating from the EC’s headquarters in Belgium announcing the award of the contract to Sadduck Drainage Water Company.
The purported letter stated (unedited) “This is to certify that after going through all the investigations and the places that your work with before, we now awarded 125 water boreholes to you. Please, we would like to have your company’s registration documents, bank account number as well as your estimate proposal. These are needed before the end of May 5, 2008”.
The source said the victim then gave out the money to Darko, who later presented a purported contract document for signing at a later date but had since not been located.