A Belgian woman and spokesperson for ‘The New Force,’ a new political movement, Shalimar Abbiusi has pleaded not guilty to obtaining student permit by false declaration when she appeared before the Kaneshie District Court yesterday.
Consequently, the court granted her GH¢20,000 bail with two sureties whose residences should be known to the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
The court, presided over by Nana AbenaOwusu-Amenyo ordered the accused to surrender her passport and report herself to the GIS three times a week until the final determination of the case.
The case has been adjourned to December 19.
Her counsel, Francis Xavier Sosu, in moving his application for bail told the court that his client would adduce evidence to prove her innocence at the right time.
MrSosu told the court that his client was not a flight risk and that she would not abscond if granted bail.
Prosecuting, Assistant Commissioner of Immigration(ACI) Adolf Aboagyeopposed the bail application on grounds that the applicant was a flight risk.
He said although the GIS seized her passport,the accused could fly out of the country any time because of Ghana’s porous borders.
ACI Aboagye told the court that the accused is 30 years-old and was arrested when she was invited by the Head of National Enforcement Section at the Immigration Headquarters in relation to her Immigration Status in the country.
He said the GIS attention was drawn to the activities of the accused on social media, in which she announced in a video, the emergence of a new political grouping known as ‘The New Force.’
ACI Aboagye said Abbiusi introduced herself as the spokesperson for the force and that investigations revealed the accused first came to Ghana on September 4, 2017 through the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), and had since been a regular visitor to the country until 2018, when she-became a resident following her supposed admission as a student of the Ghana Christian University College.
The Immigration officer said checks conducted by officers at the university revealed that the accused had never been a student,adding that the documents purportedly issued by the college to support her application for residence permit were forged.
He told the court that investigations were still ongoing to unravel the emergence of ‘The New Force.’
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
