Three persons charged with forgery denied bail

Three persons alleged to be engaged in the forging of documents bearing the signature of the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, and other documents of institutions such as the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana were on Monday denied bail by the Accra Circuit Court.

The court, presided over by Mr Aboagye Tandoh, in denying the bail application for Egwolor Onome, Favour Omowo and Senu Oyinola, held that the three had failed to show any evidence of abode in Ghana.

“I am not convinced by their argument that they will make themselves available for trial,’’ the presiding judge said, and fixed September 1, 2, 5 and 6, 2016 as the subsequent dates for the trial.

The court, however, warned the prosecution not to use the dismissal of the bail application to unduly delay the trial.

Forged documents

Other documents allegedly forged by the three included United Nations certificates, a Ghana Bar Association certificate to practise, United Nations High Commission ID cards, a power of attorney, United States Army ID cards and Republic of Senegal passports.

The rest were a Value Added Tax (VAT) certificate, Barclays Bank ID cards and a Ministry of the Interior funds transfer clearance. 

Charge 

The three have pleaded not guilty to the charges of preparation to commit certain criminal offences, forgery of other documents and possession of forged documents.

Onome has also been charged with the use of narcotic drugs, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

Facts

The facts of the case, as presented by Chief Superintendent of Police Mr Duuti Tuaruka, were that on August 9, 2016, the police received information that a group of Nigerians residing at Baatsonaa were engaged in fraudulent electronic transactions.

The police, he said, proceeded to the house and found Onome, Omowo and Oyinola there.

“A search conducted in their rooms revealed six laptops, two Internet interconnected routers and a quantity of dried leaves suspected to be cannabis sativa, for which Onome claimed ownership,’’ he said.

According to the prosecutor, after examining the laptops, the police saw many forged materials in soft copies of “key institutions in Ghana and abroad’’.

“The three claimed that the documents were not genuine but were prepared by them for transactions,” the prosecutor added.