Bishop remanded for forgery

Accra May 9, GNA - A Circuit Court in Accra which earlier on ordered the arrest of Bishop Richmond Danso of the African Faith Church at Pokuase for failing to appear before it to answer charges of forgery on Monday remanded him into prison custody.

This was after the officials of Ghana Immigration Service ambushed and dragged Bishop Danso to the court.

The Court on April 11, this year, ordered his arrest when he failed to appear before it.

Bishop Danso is alleged to have collected 132 million cedis from two persons under the pretext of securing them American visa and air tickets.

He got them the visas and the tickets but they were forged. Bishop Danso charged with possessing forged documents and uttering official documents (passports) and selling a visa belonging to another, pleaded not guilty.

He is to reappear on May 13.

The case of Assistant Superintendent of Immigration (ASI) Korletey Fosu Kwame was that in August last year a friend introduced one Miss Rosemary Oware to Bishop Danso as someone, who could assist her to acquire an American Visa.

Miss Oware alleged that the Bishop charged her 2,000 dollars for the visa and she paid various monies totalling 132 million cedis for her documents as well as that of her aunty also known as Ms Millicent Oware, who was also interested in the trip.

However, a check from the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) for examination indicated that the visas were faked, as there were mechanical erasures on the bio-data pages in the passports. A further examination on the visas also indicated they had been lifted from other passports and had been chemically washed before being pasted in their respective passports.

The Prosecution said Bishop Danso had since refunded 10 million cedis. 09 May 05