An Accra Circuit Court has granted GH₵55,000.00 bail with two sureties each to be justified to two persons for allegedly forging a receipt of the Judicial Service.
The two, Lordfred Heward Mills and Lawrence Ansu Asante, both professional teachers, are to report to the investigator on the case every two weeks.
They have both denied the offence and will make their next appearance on January 6, January, 2022.
Meanwhile, their accomplice, one Boakye Boateng, is on the run.
Police Chief Inspector William Kwabena Boateng, told the court presided over by Mrs Afia Owusua Appiah that the complainant was Eric Ansah Agyei, a pastor and resident of Aburi.
He said Mills and Asante, both lived at Bubuashie and James Town respectively.
The prosecution said the accused were sureties in the case of the Republic versus Jeffery Wilson Ofori, which was pending before Mr Emmanuel Essandoh at the Circuit Court Four, Accra.
He said in June, 2021, the complainant gave GH₵3,500.00 to the accused persons to be paid to the court on behalf of Ofori, who was an accused person in that case.
The court heard that the accused persons allegedly hatched a plan to forge a Judicial Service receipt and refused to pay the money to the court, adding that they contacted one Boakye Boateng who secured them the forged Judicial Service receipt.
The prosecution said the accused persons later came out with a Judicial Service official receipt with No: 19/0263336 dated June 11, 2021, with a face value of GH₵3,500.00.
He said they then handed over the said receipt to the complainant in this case who in turn handed it over to the prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Rita Asaah, and on November 23, 2021, the prosecutor presented the said receipt to the court but it was rejected.
The prosecution said Mr Esandoh ordered for the arrest of the accused persons and they were consequently escorted to the Community 18 Police Station, where they were detained for further investigation.
He said during interrogations, Mills mentioned Boakye Boateng, now at large, as the one who issued to them the receipt at a fee of GH₵500.00.
The prosecution said the money was shared GH₵1, 500.00 each between the accused persons and that during investigation, an official letter was written to the Accra Circuit Court’s Registrar to ascertain the authenticity of the receipt.
The prosecution said on December 6, 2021, a reply was received from the Registrar which indicated that the said receipt was forged and that it was not part of the court’s stocks allocated to the Registry.
He said in their respective cautioned statements, the accused persons admitted the offences before a witness and after investigations, they were arraigned.
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