An Accra-based businessman, Mr. Kodjo Panyi Duncan, has been accused of defrauding a businesswoman, Madam Rita Awuah, of GH¢270,000 under false pretenses.
The security man who works at the office of First Lady Mrs. Rebecca Naa Okaikor Akufo-Addo, Mr. Seth Mensah, was also accused of being involved in the same fraudulent activity with Mr. Duncan, a situation that has exposed the two gentlemen.
According to information available to this news outlet, Mr. Duncan, through Seth Mensah, allegedly promised to assist Madam Awuah in clearing her goods in a 20-foot container at the Tema Port in the Greater Accra Region, but it all turned out to be a scam.
The two allegedly used the First Lady’s name to convince Madam Awuah, and later, Mr. Duncan single-handedly issued two fraudulent cheques through her clearing agent, Madam Grace Trancy Homadzi, to pay back Madam Awuah.
Madam Awuah revealed that when Duncan was arrested for defrauding her, the police at the Cantonment Police Station in Accra, led by Chief Inspector Gyasi, allegedly helped him escape.
She claimed that Mr. Duncan had bribed the police, influencing their decision not to pursue his arrest and the criminal charges against him.
Chief Inspector Gyasi has since refused to answer Madam Awuah’s calls, prompting her to call on the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, to urgently investigate the case.
Mr. Duncan has flatly denied the allegations, saying, “I swear by the grave of my dead father, how can I bribe the police to set me free? This is not true.” However, Madam Awuah noted that Seth Mensah told her that Mr. Duncan had bribed the police officer.
The businesswoman also detailed how the same Seth Mensah booked a UDA apartment at East Legon for Mr. Duncan in June 2024 at a cost of USD$150.00 per night for 16 days, amounting to USD$2,400.00, under the pretext of hosting foreign visitors coming to Ghana.
However, the so-called foreign visitors never showed up, but Mr. Duncan continued to lodge in the apartment for two weeks. He refused to settle the full payment and left, saying that Mr. Seth Mensah only gave him GH¢30,000 for part payment of the UDA Apartment he rented.
In an attempt to recover the money, Mr. Duncan issued two cheques to Madam Awuah for the withdrawal of the money, which bounced.
The Genesis of the Matter
Madam Awuah recounted that the issue began when her clearing agent, Grace Trancy Homadzi, attempted to clear goods in a container she was importing from Thailand, only for the goods to be returned.
She was initially charged GH¢570,000 by the port regulatory authority, including the General Revenue Authority Division of Customs, but pleaded for a reduction, as she could not afford the full amount.
During this crisis, Mr. Seth Mensah introduced Madam Awuah to Mr. Kodjo Panyi Duncan, who claimed to know someone who cleared goods for the First Lady at Tema Port.
She said that Mr. Duncan assured her that the clearing agent would reduce the duty cost to GH¢285,000 by adding her goods to the First Lady’s shipment.
Madam Awuah, through her clearing agent, Grace Trancy Homadzi, handed over GH¢270,000 to Mr. Duncan, who claimed it was for the agent to clear her goods in the 20-footer container.
Additionally, she transferred GH¢20,000 via Mobile Money to Mr. Duncan as a gesture of gratitude for facilitating the transaction.
However, the goods were never cleared, and when Madam Awuah tried to retrieve her GH¢270,000 from Mr. Duncan, he stopped answering her calls.
After paying the full amount of the money herself to clear the goods, she discovered that Mr. Duncan had never passed the GH¢270,000 to the supposed clearing agent, Ato Williams.
“So the reason why I gave the money to Duncan was that he claimed that there was a man called Ato Williams who could help me clear the goods,” she added.
When she confronted Mr. Duncan, he issued a dud cheque for GH¢270,000, which was rejected by CAL Bank’s East Legon branch.
Madam Awuah further detailed how Mr. Duncan took her younger sister, Miss Akua Afriyie, to the East Legon branch of CAL Bank more than three times to withdraw the money from the cheque to pay back the GH¢270,000.00 he owed her, but he couldn’t withdraw the money.
Madam Awuah pointed accusing fingers at Seth Mensah for convincing her to trust Mr. Duncan, who defrauded her, knowing that Duncan didn’t have what it takes to help facilitate the clearance of the goods.
It was discovered that after Duncan allegedly succeeded in defrauding Madam Awuah to the tune of GH¢270,000.00, he gave an amount of GH¢5,000.00 to Seth Mensah and GH¢2,000.00 to one of the brothers of Seth Mensah for helping him to dupe the woman.
“I have now realized that these are the planned works of Duncan and Seth Mensah to defraud me. So I am blaming Seth Mensah now because I suspect that he knew I had money and that I could afford to pay such an amount to Duncan. That’s why he deliberately brought Duncan to defraud me of such a huge amount, knowing that Duncan could not help me anyway to clear my goods at the Tema Port,” she reaffirmed.
Our investigations have revealed that Mr. Seth Mensah and Chief Inspector Gyasi, on behalf of Madam Awuah, collected an amount of GH¢20,000.00 from Duncan at the Fiesta Royal Hotel in Accra. Interestingly, instead of giving the said money to Madam Awuah as a part payment for Duncan’s debt, the two shared the money.
However, Chief Inspector Gyasi has confirmed that Mr. Seth Mensah gave him GH¢6,000.00 out of the GH¢20,000.00 received from Duncan to be paid to Madam Awuah.
In this regard, Madam Awuah called on the First Lady, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, to be cautious of Duncan and Seth Mensah’s fraudulent activities, as they had used her name to scam her.
In an interview with this news outlet, Mr. Seth Mensah admitted to introducing Mr. Duncan to Madam Awuah, saying that Duncan promised to help her clear her goods at Tema Port, and that after GH¢270,000.00 was given to Mr. Duncan, he refused to clear the container as promised and also defaulted in repaying the money.
However, when contacted by this news outlet, Mr. Duncan denied using the First Lady’s name to defraud Madam Awuah. He further denied working at the First Lady’s office.
He also refuted allegations of being arrested by a police officer from the Criminal Investigative Department (CID) at the Cantonment Police Station and dragged to his house in Achimota.
He stressed that he was simply invited by the police at the request of Seth Mensah over allegations of delaying payment of the money to Madam Awuah.
Although he admitted collecting GH¢270,000.00 from Madam Awuah to facilitate the clearance of her goods at a reduced cost at the Tema port, Mr. Duncan noted that he used the said money to facilitate the clearance process for the businesswoman at the reduced cost.
Mr. Duncan provided documentary evidence to support his claim that he used part of the GH¢270,000 given to him by Madam Awuah to support the clearance of the goods for the businesswoman.
According to Mr. Duncan, the money he would repay to the businesswoman is GH¢120,000 and not GH¢270,000.00 as she was demanding from him.
Madam Awuah has disputed this claim, stating that it is entirely untrue and stressing that she needs her GH¢270,000.00 to be refunded by Mr. Duncan.
She emphasized that it is not true that Mr. Duncan helped facilitate the clearance of her goods, saying that some influential individuals had helped ensure that the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) cleared her goods at the reduced cost.
“Please, my friend journalist, I wish to state that Duncan himself knows for sure that he is not the very person who helped me clear the goods,” she insisted.
But Mr. Duncan indicated that since Madam Awuah was not satisfied with what he had done for her in clearing the goods, he agreed to refund the GH¢120,000.00 to her, including the UDA Apartment money that he owes the businesswoman.
According to him, so far he has managed to pay a total of GH¢50,000.00 through Seth Mensah to Madam Awuah and has promised to pay the arrears in installments.
Mr. Duncan provided a breakdown of the GH¢270,000 received from Madam Awuah’s agent, Grace Tracy Homadzi, to help facilitate the clearance of goods.
He disclosed that GH¢110,000 was paid to a contact to assist in reducing the duty value from GH¢1,200,000.00 to GH¢400,000.
Additionally, he indicated that other payments amounting to GH¢40,000 were made to various officers, and that the balance of GH¢120,000 is what remains to be paid to Madam Awuah.
