Fraud and Security Consultant Richard Kumadoe has said that any investment interest directly or indirectly linked to the embattled romance fraud suspect Mona Montrage aka Hajia4Reall could be in trouble if investigations prove they are accomplices and or beneficiaries of the proceeds from her predicate offences.
“As part of the long chain of investigations, all areas of investment interests that are directly or indirectly linked to the proceeds of a proven money laundering by Hajia4Reall will be affected – those investments could be risk ranked and once that is done, they will be blacklisted – their assets will then be confiscated and their licenses will be revoked – and the directors of those companies could also face some sanctions as individuals,” he said.
He was speaking with Techfocus24 about the recent arrest of Ghanaian socialite Hajia4Reall for years of alleged romance fraud through which she managed to extract an estimated $2 million from her victims, mainly retired American citizens.
Hajia4Reall, 30, was arrested in the UK while she was attending Ghana Music Awards UK event as a guest artiste. She was then extradited to the United States, where she now faces trial after being charged with six counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wife fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and receipt of stolen money.
She pleaded not guilty to all charges and was put on self-recognizance bail in the amount of $500,000 by a Manhattan Federal Court, and a GPS tracker was fixed to her ankle to ensure she does not travel out of the state of New Jersey where she will stay during the period of the trial.
US-based Ghanaian prosecutor and Supreme Court Attorney, Ebenezer Appiagyei has said Haijia4Reall faces up to 20 years for each count but she can take a plea deal for a much lesser sentence in exchange for assisting investigators to crack down on her syndicate called “The Enterprise”.
According to him, Hajia4Reall’s lawyers are likely to take a plea deal because that is what happens in about eight out of every ten such cases as lawyers of such suspects usually find the evidence against their client very compelling.
The FBI has said that it has investigated Hajia4Reall and her accomplices in West Africa for over seven years, and soon those accomplices will also be targeted.
Meanwhile, Hajia4Reall also has some investments in Ghana, all of which could become subjects of investigations as well.
Also Read: Hajia 4Reall lands investment deal with Quick Angels
Quick Angels
For instance, in June 2020, Hajia4Reall, signed a partnership deal with Ghanaian investment firm, Quick Angels Ghana Limited in which she reportedly invested some millions of cedis. She was then designated CEO of one of the company’s brands named after her – Mona 4Reall Limited, which also manages her budding music career.
Her arrest came not long after the company launched her new album with some very impressive music videos.
Since her arrest, there have been concerns as to whether she may not have used Quick Angels as a conduit to clean some of her allegedly ill-gotten wealth by investing in a highly-respect company headed by a well-decorated CEO just to legitimize her questionable wealth. Indeed, till date, Mona 4Reall Limited still remains one of the many Quick Angels brands.
According to Richard Kumadoe, by law, every financial institution or investment company has a duty to find out the source of wealth of their investors to avoid being victims and or accomplices of fraud, particularly money laundering.
KYC
He said companies are required to undertake two levels of due diligence on their investors, namely KYC (know your customer) and enhanced due diligence.
KYC, he said, involves physically going to the investor’s stated business address to confirm that indeed that is the address of the investor and also to confirm that indeed the investor does exactly the kind of business he or she claims they do and nothing else, because that helps to determine whether the source of funds is genuine or not.
Enhanced due diligence
Regarding enhanced due diligence, he said, when an investment company onboards an investor or partner, they are required by law to present three key reports on that investor to the regulator, namely, unusual transactions, cash transactions and suspicious transactions reports, adding that the compliance department of every financial institution is as well expected to provide all three reports periodically to the regulator.
The Fraud and Security Consultant explained that what those reports say about the investor at the time of onboarding them will help the regulator to determine whether he or she is engaged in money laundering or not.
“If the investor is found to have gotten his/her money fraudulently that is called proceeds from predicate offense and in that sense any investment interest of that person will be confiscated,” he said.
Investigations are Key
He however noted that until investigations prove that the investment company was an accomplice or beneficiary, the mere fact that the fraudster invested some money in that company does not necessarily make the company an accomplice or beneficiary of the crime.
“For all you care to know a compliance report from the investment company may have helped the work of the investigative body and eventually led to the arrest of the fraudster. So in that sense the company cannot be held liable,” he said.
Banks and PSPs
Richard Kumadoe also noted that banks and payment service providers which help such fraudsters to launder ill-gotten money also risk being named as accomplices and beneficiaries, adding that they may also contribute to Ghana being blacklisted by the international community when it comes to cross border financial transactions.
According to him, in cases like that of Hajia4Reall, Ghana as a country and the various Ghanaian financial institutions which may have participated in storing and moving her alleged ill-gotten money through legitimate channels would be required to assist the investigations or those companies and the country will be blacklisted.
Experts
Meanwhile, two top Ghanaian finance industry persons in banking and investments have each been telling Techfocus24 that by law, each investment company and financial institution is required to do due diligence on their investors/partners and duly report to the respective regulators.
One said “Yes, due diligence is a primary responsibility [and] if there’s anything of concern they (the institution in question) have to flag it to the Financial Intelligence Center (FIC ) or to EOCO (Economic and Organized Crimes Office) if applicable.”
The other one said “Anti money laundering laws require investors to declare the source of funds – there are standard anti money laundering forms for firms and investors to fill.”
Meanwhile, as stated above, Mona 4Reall Limited still remains one of the brands of Quick Angels Ghana, even though it is not clear whether Hajia4Reall is still the CEO or there is a new/acting CEO.
It is also not clear whether Mona 4Reall Limited has undertaken any other projects besides launching the album of Hajia4Reall and producing her very impressive music videos before her arrest.
Quick Angels Response
Techfocus24 reached out to Quick Angels but they declined comment after saying only three things and insisting all three were off record.
