It is tale of alleged blackmail being inflicted on an Egyptian businessman, Kareem Mohamed Zaki Ismail Radwan, by Interpol Ghana, as sources in the Ghana Police Service say that the man being hounded by the security outfit may be a victim of circumstance.
Kareem, our police sources say has never visited Ghana, whether for business or pleasure. He avers, too, that he has no criminal record anywhere nor connected to any criminal activity in Ghana, yet he was stopped in Cote de’voire while on his way to another country and told he was wanted by Ghana Interpol.
The story comes against the background of the Ghana Police Service recovering lost ground and truly striving to become a friend rather than an enemy to the civilian population but also businesspeople and investors seeking opportunities to do business in Ghana in creating jobs and helping improve livelihoods.
Interpol Ghana, however, wants Kareem repatriated from Egypt or Lebanon and tried here in Ghana for an alleged non-existent case and in an incident in which he suspects foul play.
Startlingly, while Interpol Ghana has officially failed to file charges for which they want the Egyptian extradited, the orgy of hounding goes on, despite an intervention from his attorney in Ghana, who has corroborated the act of alleged blackmail.
Calls to Interpol Ghana and the Interpol desk officer conducting the manhunt has failed to establish anything. Their only claim so far is that they are doing a national duty and owes no one an explanation.
Further checks by this paper established that Kareem is currently in court in Lebanon over a case of fraud perpetrated on him by two friends – Ali Hussein and Hala Morad – whom he said he met in Ghana, and who come in and leave Ghana at different dates as manifest in their passports.
He explained that as a law-abiding citizen, the only case he has in court is in connection with fraud perpetrated on him by these two friends; and he dragged them to court in Lebanon because they are Lebanese.
If some business crime had therefore been committed, Kareem believes it should have been those two Lebanese who should have had warrants on their heads as more regular visitors to Ghana or businesspeople with connections in Ghana.
In a petition dated March 10, 2023, filed therefore to the Ghana Police Service, Kareem through his lawyers in Ghana are asking the police authorities to remove his name from the Interpol list and investigate the matter fully because there appear to be a syndicate within the Service tarnishing the image of Interpol Ghana and the Ghana Police Service.
“In their quest to put a stumbling block on our client to appear in court to prosecute the matter, these two guys have some links through another Lebanese resident in Ghana called Mohie Eldean, who has managed to see some persons within the Police Service to lay these false charges on him and, for that matter, sent letters to various countries, ostensibly to put him on the Interpol list,” the petition stated, adding that “it is the case that the victim never did any business in Ghana.”
