By Samuel Ansah Boateng
Whenever you want to install elevators or other heavy electrical works in your building projects, be very vigilant and do due diligence on whoever you engage, as it has become the new trend; that some unscrupulous individuals, especially foreigners, guise themselves as top notch electrical engineers to fleece unsuspecting victims huge sums of monies, and later vanish from the country.
To buttress their trade, they legally register companies at the Registrar General and convincingly use Ghanaian natives as Secretaries and Directors with no shares, this paper has gathered.
One of such people, who has allegedly been accused of such act, is Tarek Awayda, the director of Ofcom Technologies Limited, a Lebanese, who also doubles as the director of Altra Electricals Limited.
According to an Accra based contractor, Mr. Alfa, he contracted Tarek Awayda in December 2016, to install an elevator at his Trassaco residence, paid him 30,000 dollars and after he (Tarek) received the money, he refused to fulfill his side of the bargain, "since then, it’s been stories here and there.” Mr. Alfa alleged.
“For years, he has never even availed himself for local calls, i can only reach him on Whatsapp,
and even if I do, he will decide not to pick or he will text me, that he would get back to me and
that is all,” he added.
“Early this year, he told me he has been away from the country and that he was coming to Ghana, the date he gave passed and there was still no sign of him, it’s been solid eight (8) years and he hasn’t refunded my money, neither has he installed the elevator,” he explained.
In 2012, world leading manufacturers of escalators and elevators, Schindler, partnered with Tarek Awayda’s Altra Electricals Company; which is currently not operational in Ghana, to introduce Schindler’s S3300 product line to suit the African market.
The idea was to use Altra Electricals to grab contracts from Ghanaian companies to install escalators and elevators manufactured by Schindler.
However, when Mr. Tarek was contacted by this reporter, he did not refute the allegations but referred him to his lawyer, one honorable Mortey.
All attempts to reach his lawyer, Honorable Mortey, has proven futile, as he refused to reply text messages and several calls.
Stay tuned.
