NDC MP busted over gold deal

The Member of Parliament for Sene in the Brong Ahafo Region, Felix Twumasi-Appiah, has been busted in a $30,000 gold deal. The NDC MP, arrested on Wednesday, has been cautioned together with an accomplice with the conspiracy to commit crime and defrauding by false pretense. Counsel for the MP Joshua Nimako confirmed this to Joy News but maintained that his client was innocent. Felix Twumasi-Appiah is on GH¢200,000 bail while his accomplice, Juan Carlos, a Spanish national, is being held at the CID Headquarters. The Daily Guide newspaper reports that Mr Twumasi-Appiah allegedly misrepresented himself to the police and succeeded in fraudulently causing the police to release the $30.000 meant for a Spanish businessman, Juan Francisco Osorio Lozano, to Juan Carlos, without the consent of the former. Twumasi-Appiah was invited on Tuesday evening when the Spanish businessman, Mr Lozano whom the MP claimed had instructed him to collect the money on his behalf, suddenly turned up at the CID Headquarters demanding his money which was paid to the CID by the mining company. The MP was subsequently arrested yesterday when he showed up at the headquarters for further interrogation. According to sources, a gold mining company had agreed to refund money paid by the Spanish businessman for the supply of gold in tranches, and after collecting two tranches of $160,000, the company could not pay the last tranche of $110,000, promising to do so in two installments. It (the company) therefore paid $30,000 to the CID for Juan Lozano to collect. However, while Twumasi-Appiah who speaks Spanish fluently due to his training in Cuba, was leading the businessman in the gold transaction, he was allegedly plotting to fleece the man. He got Juan Carlos, who had been following the businessman for the transaction, to tell the police that Mr Lozano had instructed him to collect the $30,000 because the businessman was indisposed and holed up in Spain. With an honourable MP in the frontline, the police did not suspect any foul play and subsequently released the money to Juan Carlos, only for the businessman to show up, demanding the money. The sudden turn of events perplexed the CID chief who was handling the case, leading to the invitation of the MP, who was shocked to see the businessman in the CID headquarters on his arrival. Juan Carlos told the police in his statement that he gave $10,000 of the money to Twumasi-Appiah, a police source told DAILY GUIDE. However, the MP’s counsel, Joshua Nimako, says his client was only helping the man to recover the money he paid to the mining company. Story by Myjoyonline.com/Daily Guide