The Circuit Court at Odumase-Krobo in the Eastern Region has sentenced a 40-year-old man to 72 months imprisonment with hard labour for attempting to use fake documents to secure a job. The convict, Nicholas Bulley Addotey had attempted to use fake documents to secure employment as a Senior Laboratory Technician at the Atua Government Hospital, near Odumase Krobo. Addotey, who was charged with forgery of official documents and altering forged documents, pleaded guilty to the charges and was accordingly sentenced on his own plea. Giving the facts of the case, Chief Inspector Emelia Ebehiakey told the court that the convict on November 21, 2006 applied to the hospital for employment as a senior laboratory technician with forged documents. According to her, Addotey was invited for an interview on December 4, 2006 but the panel which interviewed him detected several inconsistencies in the documents and also became suspicious of the certificate and the testimonial presented and reported the matter to the Odumase Police who arrested him. During the interview, the convict claimed that he had worked briefly with the Ghana Health Service and later travelled to South Africa but returned to the country to look for employment with the hospital. She stated that Addotey attached a medical laboratory technician’s certificate with registration number 000117, dated December 1997 bearing the name Addotey Nicholas Bulley and signed by the Director of Medical Services and the Human Resource of the Ministry of Health. Additionally, she said Addotey also attached a testimonial from the St Dominic Hospital at Akwatia and a pay slip from the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to authenticate his documents. The prosecutor, who said the convict also claimed that he attended Accra Polytechnic from 1995 to 1998 and was awarded a Science and Laboratory Technician certificate pointed out that investigations at the polytechnic showed that he never pursued any course there. She added further investigations at the School of Medical Laboratory at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital revealed that Addotey never attended that school as he had claimed and therefore the certificate he presented for employment was fake and forged. Chief Inspector Ebehiakey stated that further investigations indicated that the convict worked briefly at the St. Dominic Hospital at Akwatia but he was reported to have indulged in some clandestine activities which tarnished the image of the facility and he was therefore made to resign. She indicated that Addotey later confessed to the police that he never attended the School of Medical Laboratory and that the fake documents were given to him by a friend called Kojo Mensah who is currently outside the country. Source: Daily Graphic