Court Varies Amoateng's Bail Conditions

Eric Amoateng
The Accra Circuit Court has varied the bail condition for the former Member of Parliament for Nkoranza North, Eric Amoateng, who is standing trial on a charge of possessing a forged document.

Amoateng, who recently finished serving a 10-year jail term in the United States of America (USA) on a drug-related offence, was on  August 8, 2014 granted a GH¢200,000 bail  with three sureties, one to be justified.

He was also ordered to report to the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) of the Ghana Police Service on Mondays and Fridays.

But his lawyer, Mr Charles Puozing, had problems with the directive, which he described as 'too restrictive.'

He accordingly applied to the court, presided over by Ms Ellen Vivian Amoah, to vary its decision to which the court obliged.

The variation
Obliging counsel's application,the court directed the accused person to report to any nearest police station in the country twice a week.

Under the varied bail condition, the court said the police station which would record Amoateng as having reported himself should notify the CID Headquarters accordingly.

Meanwhile, an official from the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) is expected to testify in the case on October 27, 2014.

Charge
Amoateng has pleaded not guilty to one count of possessing a forged document.

He was alleged to have travelled from the USA to Ghana on a passport belonging to a female after serving his 10-year sentence for possessing herione.

The passport, according to the prosecution, was in the name of one Barbara Inkum and was issued on February 23, 2009 at a time Amoateng was in prison in the USA.

The said passport is currently in the possession of the registrar of the court as directed by the court on August 8, 2014.

Facts of case
According to the prosecution, Amoateng was on December 11, 2005 arrested in the USA for possessing heroin valued at $6 million.

It said Amoateng was tried, convicted and subsequently sentenced to a 10-year prison term and was released on July 30, 2014.

At about 2:20 p.m. on August 7, 2014, Amoateng, the prosecution said, arrived at the Kotoka International Airport and during his arrival formalities, he was found to possess a Ghanaian passport with the number H02347080.

It said an analysis of the passport by the Document Fraud Office of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) revealed that it was a forged one as its bio-data page had been substituted.

Credit:  Mabel Aku Baneseh & Nana Konadu Agyeman|Graphic