A Ghanaian pastor was on Monday sentenced to 519 years in prison for allegedly using form of a Ponzi scheme to defraud over 100 people who invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in his company. According to GhanaWeb, the Accra High Court handed the sentence to Reverend Edward Buabeng after he was found guilty of 173 counts of conspiracy to commit a crime and defrauding by false pretenses.

The pastor, who was said to be the Chief Executive Officer of Career Link Marketers Company Limited, will serve 8 years for each of the 173 counts. The sentences will also run concurrently. During his three-year trial, 12 witnesses took the stand to testify against the convicted reverend. 

The complainants in the case were identified as John Osei-Kumi and Brenda Adolphine. Per the state prosecutor, the complainants, who are also married, jointly invested $7,000 into Reverend Buabeng’s company. Besides that, Adolphine separately invested $6,000 after she was made to believe she would receive 40% interest after three months. 

The complainants made the said investments in July 2018. But when the time came for the couple to receive the said benefits, the convicted reverend failed to keep his side of the bargain. The couple later filed a report with the police after they were unable to retrieve their investments. It was also established that over 100 people had filed police complaints against the same Reverend Buabeng.

Investigations that were launched by police also established Reverend Buabeng went into hiding after his company received investments to the tune of about GH₵ 1,193,136 (over $80,000) and $185,408, GhanaWeb reported.

Following his eventual arrest, the state prosecutor said Reverend Buabeng did not deny defrauding the complainants, adding that he also offered to reimburse the funds as his company was in the capacity to do that. And though an agreement was struck with regard to the repayments, Reverend Buabeng did not keep his word. He was subsequently re-arrested and put on trial.

The court, however, acquitted and discharged the reverend’s wife and another accused person. A bench warrant has also been issued for a third accused person who allegedly jumped bail.