A former Director of Passport, Odoi Anim, says ex-convict Eric Amoateng�s fake Ghanaian passport was issued by Ghana�s Mission in Washington in the State of Columbia (DC).
Speaking to Joy New, he stated that Amoateng�s passport was issued in 2009 and in that year �I was not in Ghana; I wasn�t even Director of Passport � I was a Deputy Ambassador in Holland and came back in 2011.�
Mr. Anim was picked up by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) Wednesday to help with investigations into allegations that he had knowledge about the forged passport issued to ex-convict Amoateng.
Mr. Amoateng arrived in the country recently, after serving a 10-year jail term in the US for illegal drug trafficking but was arrested by the Ghana Police at the Kotoka Airport for allegedly possessing a fake passport. Checks by authorities indicated the passport belonged to a woman.
He was charged with the crime and subsequently granted a Ghȼ200,000 bail with three sureties, one of which was to be justified by an Accra Circuit Court. But, according to Mr. Anim, he became a Director of Passport in July, 2012 and could not possibly be involved in such a scam.
�Usually, when someone is released from prison, he travels on Laissez-Passer and so if he came on a passport from the US, obviously the passport was issued by our Mission in Washington.�
He insisted he never signed a passport from the Washington Consulate because he did not work there.
�I don�t work in the Washington Consulate; I never signed passports from there and that particular passport was machine readable so it is very easy to find out the director who signed that passport for Mr. Amoateng.�
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