Daniel Obinim
A Kaneshie District Court in Accra has threatened to discharge Daniel Obinim, founder of International God’s Way Church (IGWC), and one other person if the police fail to commence the prosecution of the two at the next court date.
This was after the prosecution led by Detective Sergeant Amoah Richard had told the court presided over by Rosemond Agyiri that they were unable to proceed due to some challenges they encountered in their investigations into the matter.
The controversial pastor is before the court together with others over allegations of forgery of police document and publication of false news.
He was put before the court in May last year but the prosecution was yet to make any progress in the case.
Appearing before the court yesterday, the prosecutor stated that they were having challenges with the investigations.
This did not go down well with the presiding magistrate who inquired from the investigator whether it was prudent to put the accused persons before court when they had not completed investigations.
Counsel for the accused persons, Dela Blagogee Esq. of Blacksword & Co. who was with Akua Boadiwaa Boateng and Kwabena Sarfo Adjei appeared enthused by the decision and indicated that the court had “lifted the spirits of counsel and accused persons.”
The court adjourned the case to April 4, 2021 for the prosecution to prepare well for the case to continue.
Main Trial
Bishop Obinim and Kwabena Okyere were separately put before a Kaneshie Magistrate Court in Accra and both charged with publication of false news and forgery of document contrary to Section 159 (c) of 29, 1960.
The two, together with three others at large, are facing four counts of conspiracy to publish false news, conspiracy to forge other documents, publication of false news and forgery of documents.
The accused persons are alleged to have forged and published a police persons wanted form for the arrest of one Isaac Opoku, a resident of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
The said wanted person form bearing the details of the supposed fugitive, Mr. Opoku, according to court documents, was circulated on the social media of certain individuals who were linked to Obinim including Mr. Okyere.
Obinim Deposit
The alleged forgery of police documents by Bishop Obinim, according to the prosecution, resulted from some GH¢51,280 he reportedly deposited in Mr. Opoku’s bank account.
According to court documents, Bishop Obinim transferred GH¢49,160 out of the amount into his Kaizer Bank account in Spain but it was later returned into Mr. Opoku’s bank account in Ghana.
Opoku then used the money, claiming he did so because of a promise Obinim made to him in front of his congregation to buy him a car.
It was the back-and-forth that followed efforts by Obinim to retrieve the money that led to the alleged forgery of police document.
Mr. Okyere was then arrested by the police after it emerged that the alleged police persons wanted formed appeared on his Facebook page under the name ‘Angel Obinim Ba Kobby Fireman.’
The complainant in the matter, according to court documents, made a follow up on the publication at the Police Headquarters but was told that the police did not issue any such form.
The alleged forged publications were subsequently deleted by the owners of the Facebook pages but the complainant according to the prosecution had already taken screenshots of the page.
Mr. Okyere is alleged to have gone into hiding until his arrest in Kumasi and “a subsequent check on Facebook during interrogation of accused persons revealed that the Facebook account ‘Angel Obinim Ba KobbyFireman’ had been deleted,” the court document revealed.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak