Not all gold bars busted at Sapeiman were fake – Tanko Computer alleges

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC), Dr. Rashid Tanko Computer, has revealed that not all of the gold bars intercepted during a high-profile National Security operation at Sapeiman in February were fake, contrary to earlier reports.

Speaking on Channel TV’s Breakfast Daily on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, Dr. Tanko Computer suggested that the narrative of the entire gold haul being counterfeit was a deliberate smokescreen to obscure deeper issues related to illicit financial operations and economic sabotage.

National Security operatives had on February 9, 2025, seized a large consignment of counterfeit currency and what was initially reported as fake gold bars hidden in twelve 20-foot containers in Sapeiman, a suburb of Accra. The discovery sparked public concern over the scale of criminal activities and alleged regulatory lapses.

But Dr. Tanko Computer indicated that while some of the bars were indeed fake, others were genuine, and the operation was part of a larger, more sophisticated money laundering scheme.

“In Japka’s matter at Sapeiman; those doing money laundering, if I tell you their modus openradi, you will be shocked. They camouflage it with the thing being fake but they have the other one. They use the fake ones to bamboozle Ghanaians and they get away with what they are doing and destroy our economy.

“When we caught them with the first one and the second one, yes, some of them were fake but not all of them were. They have the other ones. I tell you, these people the thing they did for eight years, only God knows and we are now taking time to clean up the system to make sure that we reset the country on the right path,” he stated.

Dr. Tanko Computer also raised concerns about the abuse of gold trading licenses, noting that all such licenses had been revoked and would now be reissued under the oversight of a new regulatory body, referred to as “GoldBod.”

“If you look at the way the Act is carved, you cannot engage in any gold trade without license so you have to come and renew it with the GoldBod. All license stand revoked at the moment. And I know my people, they will come and do a press conference very soon. Because they have given out a lot of illegal licenses behind the scene for them to do all manner of trading,” he noted.

Responding to the Interior Minister’s recent call for the deportation of foreigners involved in illegal mining (galamsey), Dr. Tanko Computer expressed strong support for the move but suggested a more rehabilitative approach for Ghanaians involved in the illegal activity.

“As for those people, we will just bus them away. For our people here, we will try to reform them because after all we are all Ghanaians,” he stated.