Ghanaian in police custody for forgery, fake identity

The Special Fraud Unit of the Nigeria Police Force is investigating the activities of a Ghanaian, Selorin Dzomeku, for alleged forgery and false claims to Nigerian nationality. Crime Digest learnt that Dzomeku is a sales distributor of Daikin Cooling Products in Ghana, who decided to enter the Nigerian market by incorporating a company in Nigeria known as Coolingcare Africa Ltd.

It was gathered that his trouble began when a potential customer reacted to one of his adverts and decided to patronise his company. The woman, who spoke to Crime Digest on condition of anonymity, said she inquired via an electronic mail from the parent company, based in Belgium, whether it was safe for customers to deal with Coolingcare Africa in servicing their products. To her amazement, she was told that the firm had no representative in Nigeria.

“When I saw the advert I was interested in servicing the product, but to be on the safe side, I decided to inquire from the parent company in Belgium. I was surprised when they told me they did not have a representative in Nigeria. They further told me to source their products from Packplus International Ltd. in Ghana,” she said.

Not satisfied with the response from the company in Belgium, she decided to pay a visit to the office where she was introduced to one Mr. Julius Obafemi, who claimed to be the managing director of Cooling care Africa Ltd. She asked Obafemi about the credibility of the company and its claim of being the country’s representative of Daikin Belgium.

The MD put her mind to rest, telling her that the company in Ghana and Nigeria were sister companies that worked together and that the reason Nigeria was not listed in the sales network of Daikin was because the list had not yet been updated.

“He told me that the parent company had not yet updated its list and that Coolingcare Africa Ltd. in Nigeria and Packplus International Ltd in Ghana were sister companies who work together. What surprised me most was that from the name, I expected a Yoruba accent from the man; instead, I heard a Ghanaian accent.” she said.

The police were tipped of Dzomeku’s dealing and he was invited to the SFU for questioning. Crime Digest gathered from a source at the unit that the true identity of Julius Obafemi was Selorin Dzomeku, who decided to adopt Obafemi solely to establish a company in Nigeria. The source hinted that there were strong indications that the list of directors of CAL, which bore the names of three other people, was fictitious as Dzomeku is yet to produce the directors.

“When interrogated, we found out that (Selorin) Dzomeku and (Julius) Obafemi is the same person. It was discovered that he was able to fill the form through a driving licence he obtained, and he adopted that name because he wanted to establish a company in Nigeria, but he went about it the wrong way and that is a crime according to our laws. There is reason to believe that the other three people that he listed as his directors are fictious as he is yet to bring them to us. Also the address of these directors is the same,” he said.

The Commissioner of Police in charge of SFU, Mr. Moses Saba confirmed the arrest, but declined further comments as he said such explanation could affect police investigation into the incident.
Source:punchng.com