An Indian national, Shubham Sharma, has been sentenced to five years in prison by an Accra Circuit Court for possessing forged local and foreign currencies.
The court heard that Sharma, a company manager, had in his possession counterfeit GH¢200 notes totaling GH¢1,976,000 and fake US$100 notes amounting to US$191,900. He was found to have dishonestly appropriated his employer’s cash and replaced it with forged notes.
Chief Inspector Wisdom Alorwu, leading the prosecution, told the court that the complainant, a businessman and CEO of a company producing air fresheners, reported that Sharma had swapped genuine cash with counterfeit notes while managing the firm.
Presiding judge Joseph Yennuban Kunsong sentenced Sharma to four years for possessing fake local currency and an additional one year, making it five years for possessing counterfeit foreign currency, with the sentences to run concurrently. Sharma had already spent over nine months in custody prior to sentencing.
The court also directed officials from the Ghana Police Service, the Bank of Ghana, and the court registrar to destroy all seized forged notes. In addition, Sharma is to be deported after serving his prison term.
Investigations revealed that Sharma, responsible for receiving and securing company cash, broke into his employer’s safe while the businessman was abroad and substituted US dollars with counterfeit notes. Further checks showed that he also replaced large sums of Ghana cedis with fake GH¢200 notes.
The Bank of Ghana later confirmed that the seized notes were indeed counterfeit. During questioning, Sharma admitted to keeping the forged notes at the company office.
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