A secondary school teacher from Southern Highlands, currently based in Kundiawa, has been arrested and charged by police in the National Capital District on Friday with six counts of uttering and six counts of forgery. He is now detained at Boroko Police Station.
National Capital District Metropolitan Superintendent Warrick Simatab confirmed that the 37-year-old man from Mamuane in the Ialibu-Pangia District of Southern Highlands, who was in Port Moresby last week, is alleged to have forged documents from the Markam District Authority Chairman and others to make deposits from two different bogus cheques into a school in Markam that is not operating. He was caught by the bank workers who alerted the BSP Fraud Investigation Unit, which responded and apprehended him.
Metsupt Simatab said the man who had in his possession forged documents, which included a confirmation letter, two bogus BSP cheques, a Form 11, a vendor’s agreement form, and an IPA certificate to an account of which he is a signatory, was at BSP Vision City trying to draw funds from the Markam District Finance under the District Development Authority and District Support Improvement Project Funds when the bank workers noticed the foul play and alerted the Bank Reservist police officers. The police officers who responded apprehended the man, who was then brought to the police station, where they found that he had forged documents, a seal from the Markam District Development Authority, and a forged signature from the Markam member of Parliament.
“The BSP Fraud Investigation team then made contact with those whose names were on the documents and found that the documents he had were all forged. The school, Markam Child Care Christian Academy, which he was about to draw funds from, is not an established school. The team confirmed that all the documents were not original but forged.
As a result, he was taken to Hohola Police Station, where he was formally charged and is now detained in a cell,” Metsupt Simatab said.
Metsupt Simatab, while acknowledging the teamwork done by the honest bank workers and the police, said that with the increase in technology, people will come up with all kinds of documents to convince them to gain access to things that are not theirs. He stated that teamwork to confirm and verify such documents will determine if they are fake individuals or the rightful owners of the things they want to claim. He thanked the team of BSP Police Reservists and others who did a tremendous job to save the K3.9 million.