Three persons including a court official of the Judicial Service have been remanded into police custody by an Accra Circuit Court over fake Judicial Certificate of Divorce.
They are Akwasi Asare Junior, a Clerk with the AMA, Charlotte Ofori, a typist of the Judicial Service and Daniel Kwame Bessah, ex-army officer.
Asare has been charged with forgery of judicial document, while Charlotte is being held for abetment of crime.
Bessah, Major (retired) is being held for possessing and forging judicial certificate of divorce.
The three accused persons have pleaded not guilty and they are expected to reappear in court on March 7.
The case of prosecution was that the complainant Innocencia Ama Avetey, the wife of Bessah, got married under ordinance on 12 October, 2002 and both had been living together as husband and wife.
In October last year, Bessah went to the complainant’s room and threw a divorce certificate at her, directing her to leave her matrimonial home with her luggage and baggage for no reason.
The complainant read through the divorce certificate dated January 5, 2010 and notarized by Samuel Boakye Yiadom, the 2nd Deputy Judicial Secretary.
The complainant was astonished as she had not been arraigned before a court or aware of any divorce proceeding at any court. She, therefore, contacted her lawyers who reported the matter to the Police
According to prosecution, investigation revealed that the case was filed at a Circuit Court which was presided over by Justice Ofosu Quartey, a High Court Judge, who had never presided over any case.
Prosecution said the suit number of the case could also not be found at the Circuit Court Registry.
Also, Mr Boakye Yiadom, the Deputy Judicial Secretary and Mr S. F. Otoo, the Chief Registrar of the Circuit Court claimed they did not have any knowledge of the document, hence, described it as fake.
Asare Junior in his cautioned statement claimed that it was a “job” given to him by Charlotte, who said they were mere documents meant to facilitate visa acquisition.
Bessah, however, denied saying that he really sought for a divorce certificate after paying for a statutory fee and that the certificate was handed over to him to be served on his wife.
Source: GNA