An employee of Satguru Travel and Tours Agency, Soni Manoj, who dabbled as a fake COVID-19 test results provider, has been convicted on his own guilty plea to a fine of 300 penalty units, equivalent to GHc 3,600.00.
These events unfolded on 8th February 2022 when the case was called and prosecuted at the Kaneshie District Court in Accra.
Soni Manoj pleaded guilty to three counts of uttering forged documents and a further three counts of possessing forged documents, being COVID-19 test certificates that he faked using the name and certificate design layout of the reputable LEDing Medical Laboratory.
He had conducted the fake test for some Indian sojourners departing Ghana. In the case of “The Republic vs. Soni Manoj”, the accused was charged with the six counts of the afore-stated offences under Sections 169 and 166 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act of 1960 (Act 29).
Mr. Manoj had been arraigned on these six counts before the court presided over by the Magistrate, His Worship Oheneba Kuffour.
Despite mitigation pleas from Soni Manoj’s lawyer for the court to temper justice with mercy, in sentencing the convict, the Court noted the malicious nature of the offence committed by the convict which had brought a lot of mistrust amongst certain persons in society to the test results from otherwise reputable businesses and facilities such as LEDing Medical Laboratory.
The conviction also crowns with success the public-spirited efforts of LEDing Medical Laboratory and its Directors working hand-in-hand with the Ghana Police Service to arrest and expose all manner of culprits engaged in the illicit activity of faking its test results or certificates.
According to the brief facts of the case provided by Chief Inspector William Osei, sometime in March, 2021, the Financial Director of LEDing Medical Laboratory made a complaint to the police upon detecting that certain travelers of Indian nationality who had arrived at the airport for departure formalities had fake LEDing Medical Laboratory negative-status COVID-19 test certificates.
Upon questioning, the travelers mentioned that their test certificates had been facilitated by the travel and tour agency that handled their flight bookings, Satguru Travel & Tour Agency, located in Accra. Police investigations led to the arrest of Soni Manoj, who was employed by the said Satguru Travel & Tour Agency, as the source of the fake certificates.
Manoj was subsequently arrested and during interrogation, he claimed in his cautioned statement that he was in his office when one “Alex” walked in and introduced himself as a marketing officer for a medical laboratory.