Court issues subpoena for witness to appear in Eric Amoateng case
An Accra Circuit Court hearing the case involving Eric Amoateng, a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Nkoranza North, over a forged passport, has issued a subpoena for the fourth prosecution witness to appear in court on the next adjourned date.
The court said Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) John Kweku Lodonu, of the Criminal Investigation Department, Headquarters, is to appear in court to explain his failure to appear on January 26, 2015, for cross-examination.
According to the presiding Judge, Madam Helen Amoah, ASP Lodonu was requested by the court to put in writing the reasons for his absence on the said date, but has failed to carry out the request.
She said “ASP Lodonu was not in court on January 26, someone represented him and told the court that he was ill, but he later came back to tell the court he was not ill and accordingly was ordered to put the reasons for his absence in writing but has refused to do so”.
Madam Amoah ordered that the subpoena be served through the Inspector-General of Police for ASP Lodonu to appear in court on the next adjourned date.
Earlier, the prosecutor DSP Aidan Derry, told the court that his outfit had forwarded the signature of the one who signed the passport to the crime laboratory and was yet to receive the report.
He promised the court that by the next adjourned date the report would be ready, saying he would get in touch with the investigator to follow up on the report as soon as possible.
The case was adjourned to July 16.
At the last sitting, the court was forced to adjourn the case when the prosecution said the forensic report of the signature of the alleged forged passport was not ready.
The court ordered that the verification of the signature of the passport should be done by a forensic signature analyst, and a copy of the order served on the Director of the Criminal Investigative Department at the Police Headquarters, as well as the Inspector-General of Police, with a proof of service obtained for the court.
The court made the order after the fifth prosecution witness; Mr Alexander Grant Ntrakwah, Director of Passport, gave evidence and was cross-examined by the defence counsel.
Mr Amoateng is alleged to have traveled to Ghana with a female Ghanaian Passport, after serving his conviction abroad.
He has pleaded not guilty, and has been admitted to bail in the sum of GH¢200,000.
The case for the state is that in December 2005, he went to the United States, and was arrested in the same month for possessing heroin, a narcotic drug.
He was jailed, and after serving his sentence, Amoateng was released from prison on July 30, 2014.
On August 7, the same year, the accused person arrived at the Kotoka International Airport on board a Delta Airline flight at 1420 hours, and while going through arrival formalities, it was detected that he had in his possession a Ghanaian Passport which was allegedly forged, with the bio-data page substituted.
Source: GNA