A member of an alleged syndicate of bank fraudsters who attempted to siphon huge amounts running into millions of cedis from the accounts of corporate customers of the CAL Bank has been arrested by the police. The suspect, a 45-year-old self-styled businessman, Kodjo Grant, alias Michael Essuman, who claimed to be the Managing Director of Micman Enterprise Limited, was nabbed by the Commercial Crime Unit (CCRU) of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at the Tema branch of CAL Bank where he had gone to carry out his alleged nefarious activities. Three other accomplices - Akwasi Aboagye, one of the leaders of the gang, Olivia Ansong and Paul Yaw Agyemang -are on the run and the police have mounted an intensive search for their arrest. According to the Commander of the CCRU, Superintendent Yaa Tiwaa, somewhere in March this year, the head of Internal Audit of CAL Bank alerted the police of the intention of a group of fraudsters who were planning to rob the bank of huge sums of money. She said the bank official indicated that the gang had managed to get one of the bank workers as their contact within the bank to assist them to carry out their plan and had promised to give him some of the money, should the deal go through. The commander said in order to convince the contact of their preparedness to fulfil their promise, they bought him an expensive mobile phone and also gave him some cash. She said the contact feigned interest in the deal so the gang asked him to monitor the accounts of four prestigious corporate customers and report their current balances and any savings they would make. According to the Commander, the gang showed the accounts numbers and cheque books of the four companies and signatures of those who were supposed to sign the cheques to the contact. They also asked him to monitor other accounts with huge balances and keep them informed. The contact alerted management of the bank about that development and a report was made to the police by the internal auditor. Members of the gang registered companies at the Registrar General's Department, after which they used the documents to open accounts at different branches of the bank, where stolen monies are lodged and withdrawn later. The commander said those new accounts were given to the contact to monitor and to inform them as soon as monies were paid into them, but unknown to them, the police were monitoring their movement. Superintendent Tiwaa said on April 4, 2010 a member of the gang went to the Tema branch of the Cal Bank to collect his cheque books and cash some money when he was arrested. A search conducted on him revealed a driving licence and a business certificate, both bearing the name Michael Essuman, which turned out to be his real name, but he used fake documents to open the fraudulent accounts. Police investigations further revealed that two other accounts were opened by Olivia Ansong and Paul Yaw Agyemang. Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana