Port Manager on the run

The police have mounted a search for the Port Manager of Akuafo Adamfo Marketing Company Limited at Tema for his alleged involvement in a major scandal.

Victor Nketiah, the suspect, who is on the run, is alleged to have stolen 840 million cedis through fraudulent means with the connivance of Samuel Temeng Asare, the Depot Storekeeper of the Discrepant Shed of the company at the Tema Port.

Asare is currently on police enquiry bail while investigations by the Commercial Crimes Unit (CCU) of the Ghana Police Service continue.

The Director of Operations of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Assistant Commissioner of Police, Charles Tokor, who briefed the Daily Graphic last Thursday, said investigations by the CCU had revealed that Nketiah, with the sup¬port of some district managers of the company, connived with Asare to per¬petrate the act.

He explained that the modus operandi of the group was for the dis¬trict managers to load the trucks with quantities of the cocoa bags less than the expected quantities but on the waybill, they indicated the exact num¬bers of bags on the trucks.

For instance, he said if a truck were to be loaded with 600 bags of cocoa, the district manager would load 550 bags but write 600 bags on the waybill.

Mr Tokor said the district man¬agers would then instruct the drivers to contact Nketiah for the remaining 50 bags at the Tema port before sending the consignment to the Cocoa Marketing Company.

He said on arriving at the Tema Port, Nketiah would then direct the drivers to go to the Discrepant Shed, which is a warehouse of the company where rejected cocoa beans were kept.

Mr Tokor said at the Discrepant Shed, Asare would then re-load some of the beans into new bags to top up the consignment for the driver to take to the-Cocoa Marketing Company.

He explained that the cocoa beans that were kept at the shed were not bad beans but often not up to the weight required by the Cocoa Marketing Company.

According to Mr Tokor Nketiah and his conspirators would then share the difference that normally resulted from the deals.

He said investigations so far indi¬cated that 1,053 bags of cocoa valued at 840 million cedis had been unaccounted for.

He said Nketiah, on hearing that the deal had been detected, escaped from the Tema Port and deserted his home to an unknown destination.