A 46 year- old man Aloysius Borbor Barbar of Upper Allentown has been remanded at the Pademba Road Correctional Centre for allegedly forging a marriage certificate so he could become a beneficiary of the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) scheme.
Barbar appeared before presiding magistrate Mark Ngegba on Monday 6th March 2023 charged with 84 counts ranging from conspiracy to defraud, forgery, altering a document, making a false statement, furnishing a false statement, and causing money to be paid to him by false pretences.
The prosecution witness, Detective Inspector Fatmata Bash Koroma of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters in Freetown, told the court that on the 22nd February 2021, the case was reported to her by the Investigations Officer of NASSIT, Ishmael Karankay.
The detective also noted that the complainant made a statement and submitted relevant documents that include a certificate of native marriage, purported to have been prepared and signed by the Bo District Council, which the accused used to claim properties and NASSIT benefits.
On the same day, the witness also tendered the documents and statements obtained from the accused.
On the 26th of February 2021, she said a team of police personnel went to Bo District Council for an investigation. The report of that investigation she said was forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
According to records on 15th July 2009, at the NASSIT Southern Regional Office in Bo, the accused furnished a false statement to the institution that Amie Mary Tua was his wife in the hope of claiming survivor benefit.
Also, between 15th July 2009 and 31st December 2010, the accused allegedly forged a Native Marriage certificate with a general receipt purporting they were also prepared by the Bo council.
Also on 15 July 2019 and 23rd February 2021, he allegedly conspired with others to defraud NASSIT by forging a native marriage certificate and receipt in the name of the same institution.
He was said to have from the 1st of October 2013 to the 28th of February 2014 received (Le 50, 654) Fifty Thousand Six Hundred and sixty-Four old Leones per month on the pretext of being the legal husband of the late Amie Mary Tua.
Also from the 31st March 2014 to the 31st December 2016, he had been receiving Le 60,785 (Sixty thousand seven hundred and eighty-Five old Leones every month).
Barbar also allegedly received Le 100,000 (one hundred thousand old Leones) from the 1st of January 2017 to the 31st of December 2019 on the same fraudulent act.
The case was adjourned to the 13th of March 2023.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (09/03/23)
