A SELF-STYLED journalist, Ebenezer Van Dyke, who for the past six years has operated in the Eastern Region with the press card of Radio Gold, has been arrested for allegedly defrauding a District Chief Executive (DCE) and a Member of Parliament (MP) of a total sum of GH¢750.
The suspect, whose case was just mentioned at a District Court at Odumase-Krobo on August 14 and charged with fraud under false pretence, has been remanded at the Akuse Prisons to re-appear on August 27, this year, for the trial to begin.
Van Dyke allegedly charged Johnson Ehiakpor, the DCE for Asuogyaman, GH¢430, and Rev. Dr Asare Akoto, the MP for Asuogyaman, GH¢320, to do feature stories on them which would be aired on Radio Gold.
The accused’s attempt to defraud a third person, Mr Charles Evans Apreko, the DCE for Kwahu North, gave him away because of the collaboration between Mr Apreko and Mr Ehiakpor.
According to Mr Ehiakpor, who spoke to the Daily Graphic on April 19, this year, Van Dyke phoned him at Atimpoku that he would broadcast a feature article about him, and thus demanded GH¢500, but after negotiations, the accused agreed to take GH¢400.
He said because he did not have the money that particular day, he asked the accused to come back on April 20, but after parting with the GH¢400, Van Dyke again demanded GH¢30 to pay for a taxi he claimed to have chartered from Accra to Atimpoku.
Mr Ehiakpor further stated that on August 12, Van Dyke again came to him and demanded GH¢250 to feature him in a political story on Radio Gold, so he alerted the police who arrested him.
He stated that checks at Radio Gold indicated that Van Dyke did not work there.
No comments:
Post a Comment