A 43-year old fetish priest has been granted Gh¢15,000 bail with two sureties, one to be justified, by a Koforidua Circuit Court ‘B’ for allegedly defrauding by false pretence.

Mr. Richard Vormawor, also known as Nana Buame, was said to have cut pieces of white paper like Gh¢10 and Ghc20 cedi notes and covered same with the original Ghana cedi notes and wrapped them with plain rubber to look like the real cedi notes with the intent to defraud unsuspecting public.

The accused, who pleaded not guilty to the charge of defrauding by false pretence could not meet the bail condition and was still in police custody at the time of filing this report.

He would re-appear before the court presided by Mrs Mercy Adei Kotei on May 6, this year to continue with the trial.

Giving the facts of the case to the court, the Prosecutor, Chief Inspector Owusu Ababio said the complainant  was Inspector Nelson Nadutey stationed at the Koforidua Central Hospital whilst the accused was a self-acclaimed fetish priest and resident of Koforidua Zongo.

He continued that the Koforidua District Police Command in recent times had been inundated with reports of people being defrauded by fetish priests under the pretext of doubling monies for them, thus putting the command on a high alert.

Chief Inspector Ababio explained that on April 5, this year at about 1pm,one Lance Corporal Eric Akpai who worked under the complainant and was on duty at the Nkurakan barrier, spotted the accused in a certain Hyundai mini bus heading toward  Koforidua.

He said that when the vehicle was stopped and searched seven bundles of Ghc20 notes and two bundles of Ghc10 notes which the police suspected to be counterfeit, were found on the fetish priest.

The Prosecutor said the accused was then arrested and brought to the police station for interrogation.

He said that the accused in his cautioned statement, disclosed that the said bundles of money were rather white paper he had cut in the form of 10 and 20 Ghana Cedi notes and had covered them with their respective original Ghana cedi notes and wrapped with plain rubber to look like the actual Ghana cedi notes.

The Chief Inspector Ababio said when the accused was questioned of his intention, he could not give any tangible reasons, adding it was further revealed that  he was on a mission to defraud the unsuspecting public  with an old trick known as “Bring 20 million and get one billion in old Ghana cedis” but luck eluded him.

After investigations, he was charged with the offence and  arraigned at the court.

From Ama Tekyiwaa Ampadu Agyeman, Koforidua