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A 43-year-old fetish priest was found guilty of carrying counterfeit money with the intent to mislead the public.
As a result of that, the Koforidua Circuit Court sentenced him to 15 years in jail with hard labour.
The accused was charged with preparation to commit crime to wit defrauding.
The prosecutor who goes by the name Chief Inspector Solomon Keelson, informed the court that Richard Vormowor, also known as Nana Buame, a 43-year-old fetish priest who lives in Zongo, Koforidua, is the accused and the complainant is Inspector Nelson Nadutey, a police officer assigned to the Central Police station.
According to the prosecutor, the Koforidua district command has recently received several reports of money-doubling fraud and has consequently been on high alert.
While Inspector Nelson and other law enforcement officers were on duty at a checkpoint at the Nkurakan Police Barrier on April 5, 2022 at 1:00 PM, a Hyundai minibus arrived with the accused inside travelling in the direction of Koforidua.
Police pulled over the car and searched it. The suspect's seven (7) bundles of Ghc20 cedis notes and two (2) bundles of Ghc10 cedis notes that were possibly counterfeit were retrieved, and he was then taken into custody.
The accused acknowledged that the money was counterfeit and that the bundles were comprised of white sheets that he had cut into the sizes of the currency notes and embossed to resemble authentic cash.
An inquiry eventually showed that the suspect was planning to defraud unsuspecting individuals with the trick of money doubling.
He entered a guilty plea during his arraignment, and as a result, was punished based on that plea.
The judge ordered the fake currency notes to be burned.