The visa fraud victims anxiously waiting at court yesterday
THE FORMER National Democratic Congress (NDC) Chairman for Dome Kwabenya Constituency, Sampson Ato Ampah, is currently in police custody assisting investigation over his alleged involvement in visa fraud.
The former constituency chairman allegedly collected GH¢27.800 from twelve party members under the pretext of securing them United States of America visas but ended up providing them with fake visas.
The accused, who went into hiding after ignoring several invitations by the police, was arrested from his hideout on a bench warrant and has since March 24, 2011, been in custody.
Yesterday, at an Accra Regional Tribunal presided over by Justice P.K Aggrey, the accused pleaded not guilty to twelve counts of defrauding by false pretences and altering of false document.
Counsel for the accused, in his quest to apply for bail, informed the judge that the accused was making serious efforts to refund the money to the complainants.
According to him, the accused had refunded GH¢12,000 of the total money and would in two weeks mobilize more funds to settle the matter.
Counsel, who noted that the accused’s refusal to appear before court was not to show disrespect,  added that his client was a responsible man, had a fixed place of abode and therefore would make himself available to the court if granted bail.
However, the prosecutor, DSP E.Y.Frimpong, objected to bail on grounds that 16 more people had made a case against him and would need him to complete investigations.
The prosecutor observed that there was the likelihood that the accused would repeat the offence on others if he was granted bail in a short period.
Justice Aggrey upheld the submissions of the prosecutor, saying that in the interest of justice, the prosecution should be given ample time to complete their investigations.
The judge, who observed that GH¢12,000 refund was remarkable but did not solve the whole issue, remanded the accused into police custody to re-appear on April 7, 2011.
Presenting the facts, DSP Frimpong informed the court that the complainants were residents of Accra and Kumasi while the accused was a surveyor but currently unemployed.
He narrated that in the month of November 2009, the accused approached the complainants and introduced himself to them as the coordinator of Wheels Development Enterprise, an NGO whose objective was to send youth in NDC party to Minnesota in the U.S.
The complainants, who became convinced, expressed interest in the deal and based on that, the accused demanded and collected various sums of monies, totaling GH¢27,800, from the complainants to secure them passports and visas.
However, after collecting the monies, he affixed fake visas on their passports and returned them to the complainant.
When the complainants went to verify the authenticity of the visas, they were informed that the visas were fake. The accused then went into hiding.
According to the prosecutor, on September 18 2010, the complainants reported the case to the police and although the accused was invited several times by the police, he failed to show up.
The prosecutor said the accused was served with a criminal summons to appear in court but again, he vehemently refused until a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.
By Mary Anane
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