Amoateng's case adjourned to April 22

The Accra Circuit Court hearing the case involving Eric Amoateng, a former Member of Parliament for Nkoranza North, over a forged passport, on Thursday adjourned the case to Wednesday, April 22.

The case was adjourned after the prosecution failed to present its fifth witness in the case, despite the assurance he gave the court at the last adjourned date.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Aidan Dery said the witness is the Director of Passports, and that he was in court when an officer from the passport office was sent to inform him that the witness could not be present today.

He said just as the witness was preparing to come to court, he had a call from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to attend a meeting.

He told the court that the witness has given the assurance that he will make himself available at any time the court wants him to appear before it.

The court presided over by Madam Helen Amoah, therefore adjourned the case to April 22 for the prosecution to present the witness.

The defence counsel has so far ended cross-examining the fourth prosecution witness.

During cross-examination, the witness, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) John Kweku Lodonu, of the Criminal Investigation Department Headquarters, said he received a report from the first prosecution witness, which was tendered in evidence.

Counsel for the accused person, Mr Charles Pouzuing, asked the witness whether he charged the accused person, based on the report he received. The witness responded in the affirmative, saying that the report formed part of his investigations.

When asked what offence he charged the accused person with, ASP Lodonu said he charged him for possessing forged documents.

The defence counsel again asked the witness whether in his investigations the accused person indicated that he was not aware that the passport had been tempered with, and he replied in the affirmative.

The witness told the court that after the presentation of the case in court, he had done further investigations, but had not amended the facts in support of the charges.

Mr Lodonu answered that the facts indicated that the passport was issued while the accused person was in custody, and confirmed that the passport in terms of investigations was seen as forged on forensic analysis.

Concluding, he told the court that looking at the passport with the naked eye, one cannot detect whether it was forged or not.

Mr Amoateng is alleged to have travelled to Ghana with a female Ghanaian Passport, after serving his conviction abroad. He has pleaded not guilty, and has been admitted to bail in the sum of GH¢ 200,000.00.

The case for the state is that, in December 2005, he went to the United States, and was arrested in the same month for possessing heroin, a narcotic drug.

He was jailed, and after serving his sentence, Amoateng was released from prison on July 30, 2014.

On August 7, that same year, the accused person arrived at the Kotoka International Airport on board a Delta Airline flight at 1420 hours, and while going through arrival formalities, it was detected that he had in his possession a Ghanaian Passport which was allegedly forged, with the bio-data page substituted.