The police are investigating an alleged $14.8 million and GH¢13,800 (¢138 million) fraud involving the chairman of the Supporters Union of Ghana (SUGHA), Mr Sarfo Abebrese. He is alleged to have collected the monies from a number of people between January and September 2006, with the promise of securing them visas to travel to Germany and the United Kingdom to cheer the national senior football team, the Black Stars. When contacted, Mr Abebrese confirmed that the case was currently in court and that efforts were being made to settle his indebtedness before the courts would resume in October. The Deputy Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Mr Patrick Timbillah said that 10 victims had so far lodged complaints and appealed to anyone who had fallen victim to Mr Abebrese's alleged activies to report to the CID Headquarters to assist in investigations. He named some of the victims as Owusu Asibey, Godfrey Owusu, Eric Baffoe, Kojo Opoku, Josiah Kwesi Baah and Yaw Kyei. The others, he said, were Frank Darko, Lucy Ameyaw Blankson and Michael Adzoble. Mr Timbillah, who is a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), said Abebrese deposited ¢30 million with the police, after he had first been invited by the police and pleaded to be given time to refund the balance. He said based on that, Abebrese was granted police enquiry bail to be reporting to the Documents and Visa Fraud Unit of the CID to assist in investigations. According to him, after reporting to the police on a few occasions, Abebrese went into hiding. Mr Timbillah said the victims had alleged that after collecting the monies from them, Abebrese went into hiding till the date of the trip. He said the victims claimed that they became apprehensive and suspicious that Abebrese was out to defraud them, hence their lodging of the complaint with the police. He said investigations by the police revealed that because of what the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports thought was a well-intended venture, it decided to write covering letters to the missions for issuance of visas to enable patriotic citizens desirous of cheering the Black Stars to travel with the team. According to Mr Timbillah, it later came to light that Abebrese had been arranging for visas for other people to travel abroad with the covering letter from the ministry backing SUGHA as an official supporters group. He said the ministry and its officials became alarmed and dissociated themselves from such fraudulent arrangements to secure visas for individuals or groups of persons to travel abroad rather than to provide genuine support for the national team. Mr. Timbillah said the ministry gave indication of its preparedness to expose any persons who wanted to turn the recreation of cheering the Black Stars into any indecent business venture. According to the Daily Graphic. Mr Abebrese conceded that he had made part-payment to the police with the promise of paying the rest of the money. He, however, said the police went to court to secure a bench warrant for his arrest but said it was later revoked by the court when his lawyer, Mr Charles Bentum, appealed against it. He said he was currently on court bail, pending the resumption of work by the court in October. Source: Daily Graphic