Trader remanded for bank fraud

THE Accra Circuit Court has remanded in prison custody a trader who attempted to steal $5,000 from the Makola Branch of Prudential Bank through the Western Union Money Transfer system.
Sule Hamidu, also known as Alibaba Bello, was arrested when he went to the bank to withdraw the money, allegedly sent to his accomplice, Idi Amadu Lawe, who is on the run, by Barry Melrose from Detroit, the United States of America.
In order to facilitate the deal, Hamidu prepared a fake identity card to bear his second name, with his designation as a marketing officer of Allied Signal Ventures, a non-existent company in Accra.
He pleaded not guilty to three counts of conspiracy to steal, attempting to steal and possessing a forged document and was remanded to reappear on February 8, 2007.
A bench warrant was issued for the arrest of Lawe who jumped police enquiry bail.
Prosecuting, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Eric Amoako told the court that the complainant was a worker of the Makola Branch of Prudential Bank.
He said on July 8, 2006, the two accused persons, who had conspired to steal from the bank, agreed on a plan, after which Lawe sent Hamidu to the bank to withdraw the $5,000.
Hamidu, at the time, had on him a fake identity card bearing his picture and the name Alibaba Bello.
DSP Amoako said Hamidu, after filling the requisite form, presented it to the cashier at the counter and waited to be called for the cash. But the cashier found the documents to be fake.
The police were subsequently alerted and Hamidu was arrested. During interrogation, he was said to have mentioned Lawe as the person who had sent him with the documents to withdraw the cash for him.
The prosecutor said Hamidu later led the police to Maamobi in Accra to arrest Lawe, who also claimed that he had sent Hamidu to withdraw the cash for him since he could not do that personally.