Bishop Obinim unwell, seeking medical attention - Lawyers

Lawyers for the head pastor of the International God’s Way Church (IGWC), Bishop Daniel Obinim who is facing charges of forgery at the Kaneshie District Court, have told the court that their client is seeking medical attention.

According to the defence counsel led by Mr Louis Yiadom Aboagye, Bishop Obinim was due to travel from Kumasi to Accra for the hearing but “took a turn for the worse” and was seeking medical attention hence his absence.

“We have communicated our difficulty to the prosecution and have agreed with them that on the next adjourned date he will appear”, Mr Aboagye, who held brief for Obinim’s lawyer told the court, presided over by Rosemond Dodua Agyiri when the case came up for hearing on Monday, November 16.

The case was subsequently adjourned to December 17, 2020.

Bishop Obinim and one Kwabena Okyere were separately put before the Kaneshie District Court in Accra and charged with publication of false news and forgery of document contrary to Section 159 (c) of 29, 1960.

The two who have pleaded not guilty, are together with three others at large facing four counts of conspiracy to publish false news, conspiracy to forge documents, publication of false news and forgery of documents.

The accused persons are alleged to have forged and published a police persons wanted form for the arrest of one Isaac Opoku, a resident of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.

Facts
Per the facts available to the court, Bishop Obinim allegedly forged and published a police persons wanted form against a man in Kumasi without official endorsement.

The said wanted person form bearing the details of the supposed fugitive called Isaac Opoku, which according to court documents, was circulated on social media pages of certain individuals who are linked to Obinim, including Kwabena Okyere.

Deposit
The alleged forgery of police documents by Bishop Obinim, according to the prosecution, resulted from some GH¢51,280 he reportedly deposited in Isaac Opoku’s bank account.

According to the court documents, Bishop Obinim transferred GH¢49,160 out of the amount into his Kaizer Bank account in Spain but it was later returned into Opoku’s bank account in Ghana.

Opoku, then used the money, claiming he did so because of a promise Obinim made to him in front of his congregation to buy him a car.

It was the back-and-forth that followed efforts by Obinim to retrieve the money that led to the alleged forgery of the police document.

Key Suspect
Kwabena Okyere was then arrested by the police after it emerged that the alleged police persons wanted form appeared on his Facebook page under the name ‘Angel Obinim Ba Kobby Fireman.’

The complainant in the matter, according to court documents, made a follow-up on the publication at the Police Headquarters but was told that the police did not issue any such form.

The alleged forged publications were subsequently deleted by the owners of the Facebook pages but the complainant, according to the prosecution, had already taken screenshots of the pages.

Kwabena Okyere is alleged to have gone into hiding until his arrest in Kumasi.

“A subsequent check on Facebook during interrogation of accused person revealed that the Facebook account ‘Angel Obinim Ba Kobby Fireman’ had been deleted,” the court document revealed.