A 48-year-old man has been granted a GHC20,000 bail with a surety by an Accra Circuit Court over an alleged forgery of a voter’s Identity Card (ID).
Kofi Buah, has pleaded not guilty to altering a voter’s ID card and attempted stealing a Vodafone sim card belonging to one George Kuffour.
He will make his next appearance on January 17, 2022.
Police Chief Inspector Martin Acheampong, told the Court presided over by K.K. Obiri-Yeboah, that the complainant was a manageress of Vodafone, Osu shop, whilst Buah was unemployed and resident at Ashongman.
He said on December 5, 2021 at about 1556 hours, the complainant and her staff were in the shop attending to customers when the accused person also walked in with a Ghana Electoral Commission voter’s ID card number 2451013573 bearing his photograph and the name, George Osei Kuffour.
The prosecution said Buah engaged a staff and told her that, he had lost his Vodafone sim with number 0208111697 about four months ago and wanted to replace same.
The Court heard that the staff collected the voter’s ID card from the accused person and entered the number into the system and found that the voter’s ID card used to register the sim card came with the name Kuffour George and ID number 6839011324, which was different from what the accused person produced.
Chief Inspector Acheampong said the voter’s ID card of the accused person had the name George Osei Kuffour with ID card number 2451013573, prompting the staff to place a call to the number, which went through and was picked by one Kuffour George.
He was asked whose Vodafone number he was using and said the sim was bought and registered by him and being used by him.
The prosecution said on hearing the conversation between the staff and Kuffour George, the accused person stood up and tried to escape but he was arrested and brought to the Osu police station.
He said during investigation, Kuffour George, the owner of the Vodafone sim card was invited to the station, and he came with the sim card in his phone as well as his voter’s ID card that he used to register the sim with the name Kuffour George.
A check revealed that the voter’s ID card number for Kuffour George was 6839011324 and the one for the accused person, 2451013573.
He said when the accused person was searched, his Ghanaian passport and other cards were found on him bearing his pictures and real name as Kofi Buah.
When interrogated further, he confirmed that his name was Kofi Buah and stated that someone he did not know allegedly contracted him to register the said sim card and the number for him.
After investigation, he was charged with the offences and put before court.
GNA