Newspaper paper headlines 11 October 2017..Wednesday

Telenovela scourge in Nigeria too – Patience Ozokwor

Nollywood actress Patience Ozokwor has said that the invasion of telenovelas into the Ghanaian movie industry is not different from Nigeria.

Speaking at a conference at the Precious Seed Chapel in Tema recently, the actress-turned-evangelist noted that the Nigerian movie market was also being swallowed by series and episodes of Telenovelas showing to their audience.

‘‘We have the same problem with Zee World and Telemundo. It’s really eating into the industry…what it means is that we are facing challenges and so now, we need to do something that will make our people come back to us. You can’t force them because it’s a market; everybody goes for what they want. We need to also find out why they have thrown our own away,’’

she said.

Patience advised that movie producers in Africa started doing films in episodes and series because that is what is in vogue now and has been accepted by the audience.

‘‘One thing I have personally observed is that these telenovelas are telling serial stories. If you watch it, you would want to watch the next episode so people are usually eager to watch what will eventually happen to this character. So if that’s what people want, we start doing it for them. We need to tell serious-minded stories…they (telenovela characters) don’t act well,”

she said.

“Their costuming is even wrong. What they criticize us for is exactly what they are doing. So why are people dropping us and watching what they are criticizing? For example, you can see someone who goes to bed fully made up and in a flashy dress and wakes up and still runs around with that. It makes me wonder why people are not talking about that. That means people are not watching those things; they are actually only interested in the storyline,”

the actress added.

In Ghana, the issue of telenovelas is a big one. Recently some movie producers in Kumasi petition the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II over influx of telenovelas in Ghana.

According to most Ghanaian movie makers, these foreign films have caused a decline in demand for their local movies.

– By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Money laundering reports about Asantehene inaccurate, inconsistent – Manhyia

Joy News sources at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi have dismissed money laundering reports against Asantehene, Otumfuor Osei Tutu II, describing them as inaccurate. They say they have read the story first carried by United Kingdom’s Telegraph and Daily Mail Tuesday and have found it disbelieving because, the King will not contravene any country’s laws.

The Asantehene, who was in the UK, is reported to have handed £350,000 cash to a banker to be deposited on his behalf at the Ghana International Bank in the UK.

The bank official who handled the transfer, Mark Arthur, said he did that because he is a subject of the King and could not question him over the money. He has since lost his job, which is a subject of litigation in the European country.

The Bank reported the matter to the UK’s National Crime Agency after the money was “suspiciously” transferred to Jersey, an Island in the country.

Related: Otumfuo cited in £350,000 money laundering case in UK Although there has not been any official response from the Manhyia Palace, close sources told Luv FM’s Erastus Asare Donkor that the reports are mischievous.

The sources say Otumfuor Osei Tutu II will not engage in money laundering because he is a known figure across the world who has several properties well-known, across the world including the UK.

According to them, if UK authorities at any point in time had doubt that the King has violated any of their laws, they would have filed a formal complaint with Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.

They believe the Ghana International Bank has a history of mishandling transactions of the Asantehene, who is a prestige banker with them for so many years. The sources who added that they are seeking clearance from the Otumfuor to speak to react at the appropriate time, also argued that for someone who carries a diplomatic passport, the Asantehene is exempted from certain cash limit when entering the UK.

Unperturbed residents in the Garden City who have rubbished the news say so far the Asantehene was not cited to have broken any law.

They are treating it as one of the many reports which aim to defame one of the revered overlords in the world.

Source :Joynews

Akosua Agyapong in court for ‘defrauding’ businessman

Highlife musician, Akosua Agyapong, has been hauled before the Accra Circuit Court, for allegedly conspiring with another person and defrauding a businessman of GH¢ 105,000 in a land deal.

The prosecution claims the musician and a man identified as Frank Agyemang, aka, Killer Boss, sold a land which apparently did not belong to them to the businessman. The two have been charged with conspiracy to commit crime and fraudulent transaction of land.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Agyemang, pleaded not guilty to the charges and was granted bail in the sum of GH¢ 160, 000 with three sureties with one to be justified. The musician was, however, not present in the courtroom.

Her legal representatives submitted a medical report which indicated that she was sick. The hearing continues at the court, presided over by Mrs. Cecilia Dapaa Mireku, on October 24, 2017.

Land transaction The prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Ms Agnes Boafo, said the complainant in the case was a car merchant while Agyemang claimed to be a building contractor.

She explained that in February 2017, the businessman wanted a parcel of land by the roadside to display his cars for sale. As a result, he contacted Akosua Agyapong for assistance. The musician, the prosecutor said, told the businessman that she had a plot of land for rent, but the businessman wanted an outright sale.

“Later Akosua introduced Agyemang to the businessman as her brother who had a one plot of land opposite the West Hills Mall for sale. The businessman after inspecting the land showed interest,’’

she said.

ASP Boafo added that the highlife maestro assured the businessman that the land was genuine and Agyemang was the rightful owner.

“They then took the businessman to the Lands Commission, went into one of the offices and came out with someone who confirmed that the land indeed belonged to Agyemang, and upon this, the businessman became convinced,’’

she said.

Afterwards, the prosecutor said, the businessman paid GH¢ 105,000 for the land and later gave a Toyota RAV 4 vehicle valued at GH¢ 100,000 to Agyemang for another plot of land.

“When the businessman went to work on the land, another person came to claim ownership of the land with original documents. He reported the matter to the police leading to Akosua and Agyemang’s arrest. Agyemang, however, released the vehicle to the police,’’

the prosecutor added.

– Source: graphic.com.gh

Otumfuo named in £350,000 bank case in UK

To a Ghanaian King, handing someone a holdall stuffed with more than £350,000 to deposit in a bank might seem nothing out of the ordinary.

Sac Indeed, when Osei Tutu II, traditional ruler of the Kingdom of Ashanti, summoned Mark Arthur to his multimillion-pound residence in Henley-on-Thames and handed him a bag containing almost £200,000 in sterling as well as $200,000 in US currency with consecutive serial numbers, the bank official felt it inappropriate to ask too many questions.

However, the subsequent deposit of the cash at Ghana International Bank triggered a money laundering alert in the City of London and cost Mr Arthur his job.

The King, who once worked at Brent council, summoned Mr Arthur, the bank’s second most senior executive, to his home in August last year. Mr Arthur, from New Barnet, Hertfordshire, a dual citizen of the UK and Ghana, drove to his own home with the cash and then took it in an Uber taxi to the bank’s City offices for deposit in the king’s account, he told an employment tribunal.

Osei Tutu II, the holder of a diplomatic passport, told him the cash had been withdrawn from banks in Ghana and brought to the UK, he said in his witness statement. He had also instructed Mr Arthur to move $200,000 to an account at Standard bank in Jersey. Mr Arthur, a member of the Ashanti tribe, the largest in Ghana, carried out the transfer within hours, the tribunal heard.

He was suspended and then sacked following the incident, after an investigation by outside accountants Grant Thornton. He is claiming wrongful dismissal, unfair dismissal and failure to protect a whistleblower.

The bank said he had failed to follow anti-money laundering rules and had violated security policies as it was only insured to carry cash by armoured car up to a maximum of £250,000. Mr Arthur, an executive director of the bank, alleged the deposit and transfer were approved by Ghana International Bank’s chief executive, Joseph Mensah.

Mr Mensah told an outside reviewer of Mr Arthur’s dismissal he “didn’t even have the authority to sanction such a huge amount”. Osei Tutu II is estimated to be Africa’s 10th richest monarch, with valuable goldmine and cocoa plantations and remains one of the most influential traditional figures in Ghana..

In his witness statement, Mr Arthur said he was not able to follow anti-money laundering rules when he accepted the cash because of the king’s status.

He said:

“Without a policy to follow and did without wishing to offend a sovereign of my country, I found myself in a very difficult situation and one I had never been in before. “I could not carry out the necessary due diligence by talking to His Majesty so decided it would be best to verify the deposits at the bank and to speak directly to Mr Mensah rather than disrespect His Majesty in a face-to-face meeting.”

The day after the bank accepted the cash and made the transfer to Jersey, it reported the transactions to the National Crime Agency as suspicious.

News of Mr Arthur’s suspension was subsequently passed to the City watchdogs the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA sent inspectors into the bank who severely criticised its handling of cash, the tribunal heard.

Lawyers for Mr Arthur argued that his handling of the deposit was in line with the way the bank previously handled Osei Tutu II’s account and that he was aware that the king could travel on a diplomatic passport.

They cited a string of large cash deposits in 2013 and 2014 where the source of the funds was not properly recorded. They included a $100,000 that a review of the king’s account said came from a fundraising event. There were no documents recording the source of that cash, however.

Colin Millar, a building society chairman drafted in by Ghana International Bank to adjudicate on Mr Arthur’s appeal against his dismissal, rejected suggestions that the £350,000 holdall was acceptable given the king’s history with the bank..

He told the tribunal the deposit and swift transfer offshore was a “classic” warning sign of money laundering.

Mr Millar told the hearing:

“If you want to hide the sources of funds that are from a disreputable source then you move them around until it reaches the point where the authorities can’t trace them back to their original source. That’s a way of hiding the proceeds of crime.”

The hearing continues.

– Source: Telegraph.co.uk