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Crime & Punishment of Monday, 11 April 2005

Source: GNA

Court orders arrest of Bishop

Accra April 11, GNA - A Circuit Court in Accra on Monday 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. 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 managed to get them the visas and the tickets but they were forged. Bishop Danso is to answer charges of possessing forged documents and uttering official documents (passports)

The case has been fixed for May 7.

The case of Assistant Superintendent of Immigration (ASI) Korletey Fosu Kwame was that in August 2004, a friend introduced 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.

Miss Oware, therefore, 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 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.

During interrogation he admitted collecting 65 million cedis and 67 million cedis later.

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