Ghana’s Minister of Power Signed a $510 Million Deal with an Alleged International Criminal Wanted by Interpol

Ghana’s Minister of Power, Kwabena Donkor signed a deal with Umar Farooq Zahoor from Oslo who is wanted by Norwegian, Swiss police and Interpol for spectacular acts of fraud committed within the last ten years. The deal is worth 510 million dollars.
According to reports from the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang, Kwabena Donkor confirmed that the government of Ghana had acquired ten gas turbines from a company called Ameri Group. The minister had signed the contract in February of 2015. The transaction with Ameri Group turns out actually to the best transaction ever for the mystical Dubai-based company.
Further investigations showed that these turbines usually sell for 220 million dollars. So why did the government pay 290 million dollars more than the standard price for these turbines? Following Ameri Group’s tracks for seven months revealed The full name of Ameri Group to be Africa and Middle East Resources Investment Group.
According to Ameri Group’s company website, the company works to develop, co-own and operate power plants in different parts of the world. The company has apparently achieved spectacular success in a very short period of time. Their website was created two months before the multi-million dollar contract was signed with the government of Ghana.
Dr Kwabena Donkor was handpicked by President Mahana to find a solution to the crippling power crisis in the country. Donkor signed the agreement with Ameri Group six weeks later on the 10th of February 2015. Ameri Group would provide Ghana with ten gas turbines. This procurement would help solve the energy crisis.
The contract was signed by the minister of power and another prominent representative of Ghanaian authorities, Assistant Attorney General and Minister of Justice Dominic Ayine. According to a copy of the agreement, which is 49 pages long. The director who signed for the company in Dubai is now a well-known name among investigators at the Financial Crime Section of the Oslo Police District: Pakistani Norwegian Umar Farooq Zahoor.

In a conversation with the Power Minister, Dr Kwabena Donkor, he identified Umar Farooq Zahoor as a prince from the ruling family in Dubai in a picture showed him. He knows him as the head of the Ameri Group. Dr. Kwabena Donkor confirms that he has met Umar Farooq Zahoor and the prince of Dubai. Donkor promised to leave the office after one year if he did not solve the energy crisis in Ghana.
As early as 2013, Deputy Chief of Police for Oslo Gro Smogeli singled out Zahoor as a ringleader of one of Norway’s boldest and biggest bank frauds ever; the so-called Nordea Swindle. Farooq Zahoor is also wanted internationally by Norwegian police and Interpol for his leading role in this scam.
The Borgarting Court of Appeal announced its unanimous verdict on 26 November confirming reasonable grounds to suspect the 40-year-old of fraud, as part of organized criminal activity subject to Norway’s mafia activities paragraph.
The Pakistani Norwegian is also wanted for running a fake bank in Switzerland.
UMAR FAROOQ ZAHOOR portrays himself as a busy and prosperous businessman. His base of operations the past nine years has been the United Arab Emirate of Dubai. He has been living here in a luxurious mansion in one of Dubai’s most fashionable neighbourhoods, as new luxury cars appear in his garage from time to time.
His story began in 1971 when Umar Farooq Zahoor’s father left a small village in Pakistan to try his luck in Europe. He ended up in Oslo. He set up the first immigrant store in the neighbourhood of Grønland, Oslo, together with his wife who joined him in Norway some years later.
20 years later the family owned 5 stores in the same neighbourhood. They sold food, clothing, gold items and ran a travel agency. The couple had 15 children. Umar was the second oldest son. As the parents ran their businesses, many of their sons learned to be criminals.
Umar was sentenced to one year in prison in 2003 for embezzling airline tickets from his family’s travel agency. The Oslo District Court stated that he had shown clear criminal intent, and that his actions were thoroughly planned and had a professional touch.
Umar Farooq Zahoor did not appear in court. Before the trial the judge had received a letter from the accused asking for a postponement in the case. In the letter, the man from Oslo told the court he was in the midst of business negotiations with bank connections in Switzerland.
Later on the police discovered that he was in full swing at the time with a new and spectacular crime. He had rented office space with a New Zealander in Zürich’s best business, at which they hung up a gilded sign that read Bank. What customers thought was a real bank would drain its victims for a combined loss of 20 million dollars.
Farooq Zahoor’s business partner was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for this super scam. During his trial, Zahoor’s partner told the Zurich District Court that starting a fake bank was his Farooq Zahoors partner’s idea.
By the time the Swiss police headed off to arrest the Farooq Zahoor he had already moved to his father’s country of origin.
Some years later the man from Oslo was on the run again, this time heading for Dubai, where he began his dubious affairs again.
Together with a band of fraudsters he managed to empty the Nordea bank account of a very wealthy widow over the course of 13 days in the summer of 2010. He recieved help from an employee at the bank’s branch office in Oslo to withdraw 10 million dollars.
6 million dollars were transferred to two accounts that belonged to a Norwegian businesswoman who lived in Dubai named Sonia Rashid.
It makes no sense economically. We think someone is making money on of this deal, but we do not have any evidence yet, the head of the think tank said.
In addition to an equipment price of 510 million dollars, Ghana will pay variable costs of 16 million dollars annually, according to a report from the National Assembly of Ghana. Ghana will also need to pay for the gas to power the ten turbines.
According to the agreement the ten gas turbines are type TM2500+, often referred to as a power plant on wheels. Investigations show that the standard price for these turbines is about 20 million dollars. Last summer, GE sold eight identical turbines to Sonelgaz, the state energy company in Algeria, for 161 million dollars.
A crucial reason for choosing Ameri Group, was that the company could deliver the turbines quickly, while it would take nine months or a year for GE to manufacture ten turbines, the minister said.
But it was not until late October (eight months after the agreement was signed) that the turbines were unloaded at the Port of Accra. From there they were transported to a power station in the west, where they are now being connected to the power grid and soon ready to produce electricity.