Nurse defrauds colleagues, teachers

Some teachers and nurses at Akuse, Atua and Somanya in the Lower Manya and Yilo Krobo municipalities had the shock of their lives after they discovered that what they had assumed all along to be a good business deal turned out to be fraudulent.

Nii Odoi Patterson, the perpetrator of the fraud, has been charged with defrauding by false pretences and has been remanded in police custody to help the police complete their investigations.

Presenting the facts of the case to the Odumase Krobo Circuit Court presided over by Mr Asmah Akwasi Asiedu, the prosecutor, ASP Richmond Akwasi Yeboah, said the complainants, numbering about 18,  were teachers and nurses at Somanya, Atua and Akuse while Patterson is a resident nurse at the Atua Government Hospital.

He said in March and April this year, Patterson approached the complainants and introduced himself as a local agent of IZWE Loans, a micro finance company that was giving out loans to government workers based on their respective salaries.

Patterson, the prosecutor said, made the complainants believe that upon the approval of the loan which each of them had applied for, 60 per cent of the amount was to be given to him to invest while they take the 40 per cent because that was the company’s policy.

According to ASP Yeboah, Patterson also told the complainants that deductions were going to run for a period of three months after which it would stop and that whatever interest that had accrued on the 60 per cent loan they had invested would be used to pay the outstanding loan and its interest.

He said the complainants became convinced and went in for the loans and 60 per cent of the equivalent of GH¢49,142 was given to Patterson.  On receiving the money, Patterson parted company with the group and after three months, deductions were still ongoing.

The prosecutor said the complainants became alarmed and decided to make their own enquiries at the offices of IZWE Loans in Accra to ascertain the authenticity of the whole transaction.

In the course of their investigations, it came to light that there was no such policy by the company.  They, therefore, asked Patterson for a refund but he began playing tricks on them.

They lodged a complaint with the police and he was subsequently arrested.

By Ezekiel Sottie / The Mirror /Ghana