A facility to examine the authenticity of documents so as to reduce the incidence of fraud has been launched in Accra. The facility will critically examine valuable documents such as birth, educational and marriage certificates, and other valuable documents that are tendered for the acquisition of passports, visas and for other purposes. The 157,000 euro fraud detection centre, a joint facility of the Ghana Immigration Service, the Police Service, the Passport Office, Births and Deaths Registry and the Registrar General's Department and the European Union, among others, is located at Dzorwulu, near the Fiesta Royal Hotel.. The Director of the Immigration Service, Elizabeth Adjei, said the centre, the first of its kind in Africa and one of only 12 across the world, would contribute significantly in building Ghana's capacity to conduct investigations into cases of document fraud using the most modem tools and techniques. She said the centre would go a long way to support the efforts of Ghana's law enforcement agencies to disrupt the activities of fraudsters and facilitators of illegal migration. "The centre will be the focal point for the continued fight on document fraud in Ghana and collaboration among the participating agencies," she said. Ms. Adjei noted that the centre was hosting a central database of all types of travel and source documents, both' genuine and fraudulent, to interface with operations at the Kotoka International Airport, and other coordinating desk in ate participating agencies. An official of the European Union, Andrew Fleming, commended Ghana in its quest to counter document fraud, describing the facility as "extremely important." He said Ghana was one of the respected countries in the European Union and one which was committed to becoming a role model for West Africa in terms of democratic stability and with an impressive record in the area of social and economic development. He said, it was in the light of this that his outfit had partnered with the state institutions and civil society groups to embark on viable programmes and projects to make life better for the citizenry and even foreigners residing or visiting. In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of the Interior, Martin Amidu, described as a worrying phenomenon, the rate at which document fraud was being recorded, saying that the situation had a negative aspect of globalisation and integration. "It is a crime that entails terrorism, forgeries and falsification of all manner of documents, illegal migration, and bank and insurance fraud among other related crimes". He described those who engage in such acts imposters seeking to assume and portray identities and nationalities which they did not actually or legally possess. Source: Ghanaian Times