Shiv Prasad Ortigal, a businessman who allegedly posed as the Vice President of Ghana, John Mahama with the intention to defraud an American businessman through the internet, has been arrested and put before an Accra circuit court. The accused person who allegedly forged a Ghanaian passport with the name and picture of the Vice President to facilitate his objective was remanded in BNI custody by D.E.K. Daketsey after pleading not guilty to a charge of forgery of official document.

Ortigal was remanded to re-appear on July 27, following a request by the prosecutor, Inspector Baidoo, that investigation in the case was still on-going and therefore would need the accused to assist the police. Briefing the court on the incident, Inspector Baidoo stated that the accused is a Ghanaian who hails from Wenchi in the Brong Ahafo but lives at Ashaley Botwe near Accra The prosecutor, revealed that sometime ago, accused contacted on Meiway, an American businessman, on the internet and proposed to sell alluvial gold to him.

The accused allegedly told Meiway that he was the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana and his name was John Mahama The prosecutor said the accused, in an attempt to prove his genuineness, scanned and forwarded his passport number H 1068236 with the name and photograph of the Vice President to Meiway. The business discussion, the prosecutor noted, went on between the two until accused invited the American to come to Ghana

However, Meiway, suspecting the accused could be a fraudster, contacted other friends to check whether the accused was indeed the Vice President of Ghana. Inspector Baidoo disclosed that on June 29, Meiway arrived in Ghana and lodged at the La Palm Beach Hotel. According to him, when the accused was visiting the hotel in his capacity as the Vice President to conclude the deal, he was arrested by the police.