Bernard Oduro Takyi, a businessman, is currently held by the police under suspicion of deceiving two individuals out of $27,000 with promises of securing USA visas.
Allegedly, he counterfeited stamps from countries like Singapore and South Africa in their passports, along with producing fraudulent letters from the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly.
Takyi purportedly misled Gabriel Kwame Ntim and Prince Kofi Osei, a mechanic and an employee of the Electricity Company of Ghana, respectively, who desired to travel to the USA. They entrusted Takyi with $13,000 and $14,000, resulting in a total of $27,000.
In an attempt to enhance their visa prospects, Takyi allegedly fabricated stamps and letters from the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly. He allegedly manipulated embarkation and disembarkation stamps from Singapore, South Africa, Mauritius, and Turkey within their passports, without their consent.
These documents were then submitted to the US Embassy in Madagascar, resulting in the victims obtaining visas.
One of the falsified letters purported to introduce Gabriel Kwame Ntim as a strategic partner for potential investors, in accordance with Ghana’s Industrial Development and Investment Fund (IDIF) policy.
Similarly, another fabricated letter presented Prince Kofi Osei as a “Metro Climate Management officer.”
However, the embassy later discovered the fraud and revoked the visas.
Takyi faces formal charges of two counts of defrauding by false pretenses and three counts of forgery involving official documentation. He has pleaded not guilty.
During the proceedings, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Maxwell Oppong, representing the prosecution, strongly objected to bail for Takyi in court presided over by Justice Samuel Acquah.
