An Accra Circuit Court has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of a 32-year-old painter accused of US$40,000 fraud. 

Michael Ansah, alias Paa, took the amount belonging to Mr Quacy Freeman, under the pretext of offering him a Mercedes Benz.  

Ansah is expected back in Court on August 16, 2023 while his accomplice, named only as Fred, cannot be traced. 

Inspector Wisdom Alorwu said Quacy Freeman, the complainant was a trader and resident of Kwabenya near Accra.  

The prosecution said Ansah was a painter residing at Ogbojo, Accra, adding that in November 2022, he went to the shop of the complainant with pictures of a certain Mercedes Benz GL.E and convinced him that, the car, which was in the United States of America, belonged to him.  

He claimed he had bought the said vehicle and had been using same in the USA for some time now. 

The prosecution said the accused produced certain documents to support his entitlement to the vehicle and based on that, the accused told the complainant to pay US$40,000.00 for him to ship the said vehicle for him.  

The prosecution said the accused person thereafter introduced Fred to the complainant as the one who was keeping the vehicle in safe custody and that he would ship the vehicle.  

The accused person demanded and collected a sum of US$40,000.00 equivalent to GHȼ410,100.00 from the complainant and promised to deliver the vehicle within one month but failed.  

The prosecution said on June 05, 2022, the complainant reported the case to the police and the following day he was arrested at Kwabenya.  

During his arrest, the accused had a fierce struggle with the Police, and he managed to escape but was later traced to his hideout and arrested.  

The prosecution said during investigation, the accused person admitted the offences in his cautioned statement and stated that he was unable to ship the said vehicle because it was a vehicle he stole from someone in the USA.