The 2008 Presidential candidate of the New Vision Party (NVP), Prophet Daniel Yaw Nkansah, has been arraigned in court for allegedly defrauding four farmers of GH¢69,000. He was arrested on March 6, while hiding in the ceiling of his bedroom. Prophet Nkansah, who is also the leader of the New Vision Pentecostal Church in Kumasi, is accused of collecting the money under the pretext of assisting the farmers, all from Karaga District of the Northern Region, to buy the tractors on hire-purchase from John Deere Company Limited at Dobro, near Nsawam in the Eastern Region. He has been charged with six counts of conspiracy to commit crime and defrauding by false pretences. In the dock with him was his accomplice, Haruna Natogma. Both have pleaded not guilty. Prophet Nkansah is already under trial for allegedly defrauding several other people under similar circumstances. Police prosecutors told the circuit court, presided over by Mrs Ivy Heward-Mills, that the farmers, Mohammed Fuseini Alhaji, Yakubu Fuseini, Fuseini Ziblim Alhassan Wumbe and Kassim Alhassan, in October last year, lodged a complaint against Prophet Nkansah and Natogma for defrauding them. The farmers said after the two men had collected the money from them in March last year, Prophet Nkansah and Natogma went into hiding. Natogma was arrested early this year. Police Chief Inspector Peter Nsoh, prosecuting said sometime in March 2011, Natogma approached the District Chief Executive of Karaga and claimed that he could assist farmers in the area to buy tractors on hire-purchase from John Deere Company Limited for GH¢24,000 each. Chief Inspector Nsoh said the District Chief Executive informed the complainants who expressed interest and made part payment totaling GH¢69,000, to the DCE which was paid into Natogma's bank account at Fidelity Bank in Accra. He said Natogma paid the money to Prophet Nkansah who gave him a commission of GH¢13,000. Prophet Nkansah then invited the complainants to Accra, took them to John Deere Company to see the tractors and made them take photographs with the tractors. They were promised that the tractors would be delivered to them within two weeks, but the accused persons could not honour their promise and went into hiding. Prophet Nkansah was remanded into police custody, while Natogma was granted GH¢10,000 bail with two sureties. They would re-appear on Wednesday, March 21.