A teacher and two others in court for fraud

Cape Coast, Oct. 11, GNA - A Cape Coast circuit court on Wednesday remanded a 25-year-old teacher, Francis Bentil, in police custody for forgery and deceiving public officers. In the dock with him were Hakeem Dankwah 31, a student of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) who was charged with fraud and forgery while Mercy Aboagyewa, a 25=96year-old SHS graduate unemployed, was also charged with forgery and deceiving public officer. Hakeem, who pleaded not guilty, was granted bail in the sum of GH?50,000.00 with two sureties to be justified whiles Bentil and Aboagyewa were remanded into police custody to reappear on Wednesday, October 20, 2011.

Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Francis Ockom, told the court presided over by Mrs Florence Kai Out, that in September this year, Hakeem posed as an official of the National Service Secretariat, Cape Coast branch, and introduced himself to Bentil and Aboagyewa that he could help register and get them admitted in the ongoing National Service Scheme programme at a fee of GH?250.00 each. He said Bentil and Aboagyewa managed to obtain voters ID cards belonging to Michael Asante and Lucy Asare respectively and replaced the photographs with theirs. He said after presenting the said ID cards, Hakeem then registered the= m on the NSS website. Chief inspector Ockom said on the day of registration at the Cape Coas= t District Office, one Francis Acquah, an official of the NSS detected a 93d= ata fraud" in the documents presented by Bentil and Aboagyewa and referred th= em to the District Director who upon critical study informed the police who later arrested the three accused persons. He said a search in Hakeem's car revealed an exercise book which contained 58 names with NSS numbers.