An Accra Circuit Court has sentenced an Indian national, Shubham Sharma, to five years’ imprisonment for possessing large quantities of counterfeit foreign and local currencies and replacing his employer’s money with forged notes.
The court heard that Sharma, who worked as a manager for a private company in Accra, had in his possession fake GH¢200 notes totalling GH¢1,976,000 and counterfeit US$100 notes amounting to US$191,900.
According to the prosecution, Sharma dishonestly appropriated genuine cash belonging to his employer and substituted it with forged notes while managing the company’s funds.
The prosecution, led by Chief Inspector Wisdom Alorwu, told the court that the complainant — a businessman and Chief Executive Officer of a company that manufactures air fresheners — reported that Sharma, who was then serving as a manager of the firm, had replaced genuine cash with counterfeit notes kept in the company’s safe.
Presiding over the case, Joseph Yennuban Kunsong, sentenced Sharma to four years’ imprisonment for possessing fake local currency and five years for possessing counterfeit foreign currency.
The court ordered that the sentences run concurrently.
Sharma had already spent more than nine months in custody before the sentencing.
The court further ordered officials from the Ghana Police Service, the Bank of Ghana, and the Registrar of the court to supervise the destruction of all the seized counterfeit notes.
In addition, the court directed that Sharma be deported from Ghana after serving his prison sentence.
Presenting the facts of the case, the prosecution said investigations revealed that Sharma was responsible for receiving and keeping cash belonging to the company.
While the businessman was on a trip abroad, Sharma allegedly broke into the company’s safe and replaced unspecified amounts of genuine US dollars with counterfeit notes.
Further checks conducted at the company later revealed that he had also substituted large sums of Ghana cedis with fake GH¢200 notes.
The seized notes were subsequently examined by the Bank of Ghana, which confirmed that they were counterfeit.
During police investigations, Sharma admitted to keeping the forged notes in the office, leading to his prosecution and eventual conviction.
The case highlights the serious legal consequences associated with possession and circulation of counterfeit currency, offences that authorities say undermine financial stability and public confidence in the monetary system.
