Fake doctor swindles students
A 45-year-old self-styled doctor has been arrested by the Swedru Police for allegedly falsifying the West African Senior School Certificate Examination results of a number of senior high school (SHS) graduates.
The suspect, who claims to be ‘Dr’ Sam Caesar Twumson and operates Ash to Gold Company Limited, a Takoradi-based educational consultancy firm, runs advertisements to attract potential tertiary students to contact him to enable him to facilitate their admission to tertiary institutions across the country.
He charges between GH¢1,500 and GH¢7,000 which, according to him, enables him to secure protocol admission to public universities, colleges of education, as well as nursing training colleges, depending on the performance of the student.
Acco
rding to information gathered by the Daily Graphic, Dr Twumson started his operations in 2011 and had managed to get protocol admission for about 200 students, some of whom had successfully completed their respective courses of study, though their results were fake.
Modus operandi
The Swedru Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Ahmed Issah Yakubu, told the media at Agona Swedru yesterday that it was collaborative efforts between the Winneba and the Kwesimintsim Police in Takoradi that led to the suspect’s arrest.
According to him, the suspect scanned copies of very impressive WASSCE results of some students on his computer, after which he deleted the pictures, the grades of the subjects, as well as the index numbers.
“After receiving offers from students seeking admission to tertiary institutions, he would do fake results slips for them without their knowledge and officially write to the institutions concerned to grant him protocol admission,’’ the commander added.
He stated further that the fees paid by the victims covered the purchase and filling of forms, as well as other expenses that would facilitate his quest to seek admission for the victims in the tertiary institutions of their choice.
Chief Supt Yakubu stressed that the suspect’s alleged criminal act was so professionally carried out that it made it very difficult for the tertiary institutions to detect.
His arrest
He said the suspect was arrested when he threatened to force the dismissal of a female student (name withheld) from the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) when she decided to end an amorous relationship with him.
He indicated that the suspect had charged the student GH¢3,500 to help her gain admission to the UEW but she managed to pay only GH¢1,500 with a balance of GH¢2,000 left to settle.
The Divisional Commander pointed out that the suspect falsified her results and she managed to gain admission to the university, after which he demanded his balance.
The victim, who could not pay the rest of the money, was lured by the suspect in February 2014 into an intimate relationship with him if she could not pay the balance, to which she obliged.
However, on January 1, 2015, the victim decided to break up with him after confessing to his pastor about her relationship with the suspect. Her decision did not go down well with the suspect.
Threat of dismissal
The suspect, who felt betrayed by the victim, then wrote an anonymous letter to the UEW and threatened the university to dismiss the victim, since she had applied with fake examination results.
The victim was later questioned by the university authorities about the issue but she denied any wrongdoing and subsequently mentioned the suspect’s name as the one who had helped her gain admission to the university.
Background
The suspect was arrested by the Winneba Police on March 21, 2015 but wrong charges were preferred against him by the police and the victim was also charged.
The Swedru Divisional Police Commander, after receiving a petition from the UEW, filed a nolle prosequi at the Swedru Circuit Court last Monday to discontinue the case.
The suspect was, however, rearrested for proper investigations to be conducted into the case.
Writer’s email gilbertagbey@gmail.com.