A manhunt has been launched by the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) for a Lebanese national who was given a five-year prison term for fraud.
Naji Khalil was charged with serious offenses on August 5, 2020, and appeared in front of Accra Circuit Court 4 under the direction of His Honor M.E. Essandoh.
At the time of the inquiry, the defendant belonged to a notorious international organized crime gang that also included Tony Michaelis, Abraham Faouri, and Lebanese nationals Nabil Zayani and Zayani Abraham.
They were accused of participating in an organized crime gang, conspiring to commit fraud by false pretense, and conspiring to commit money laundering, among other offenses.
Naji Khalil received a five-year sentence with hard labor from His Honor M. E. Essandoh on June 22, 2022, for two counts of conspiring to defraud by false pretense and defrauding by false pretense.
Because the defendant skipped bail during the trial and the court issued a bench warrant for his arrest, the case was conducted in absentia.
The three (3) other defendants were not present to enter pleas since they were still at large at the time of the court activity.
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Therefore, EOCO has made a public call for support in order to apprehend the aforementioned convict and ensure that he serves his just jail sentences.
Facts of the case
In April 2019, the victim Dr Khadidja Katir, an Algerian national, reported to EOCO and alleged that she had been defrauded by an organised crime group based in Ghana comprising four (4) suspects Naji Khalil, Nabil Zayani, Abraham Faouri and Tony Michaelis to the tune of USD138,000.
This was done under the pretext of airlifting ‘rough crystals’ worth USD 4 billion to her in Malta.
After the victim sent the funds, she tried calling the accused individuals multiple times, but they wouldn’t answer. On one occasion, though, when they did answer her call, they threatened to murder her if she ever entered Ghana.
Despite the threats, the victim, Dr. Khadidja Katir, traveled to Ghana and reported the incident to EOCO for review.
Investigations have proven that the suspects are part of a global organized crime group that defrauds the general public.
Source: Citinews
