An Indian national, Shubham Sharma, has been sentenced to five years in prison by an Accra Circuit Court for possessing counterfeit Ghana cedi and US dollar notes.

The court heard that Sharma, who worked as a manager, was found in possession of fake GH¢200 notes amounting to GH¢1,976,000 and counterfeit US$100 notes totalling US$191,900. He was accused of replacing genuine cash belonging to his employer with the forged currency.

According to the prosecution, led by Chief Inspector Wisdom Alorwu, the complainant—a businessman and chief executive of a company that produces air fresheners—reported that Sharma had allegedly swapped legitimate company funds with counterfeit notes.

Presiding judge Joseph Yennuban Kunsong sentenced Sharma to four years’ imprisonment for possessing fake Ghana cedi notes and five years for possessing counterfeit foreign currency. The sentences are to run concurrently.

The court also noted that Sharma had already spent more than nine months in custody before the ruling was delivered.

Additionally, the court directed officials from the Ghana Police Service and the Bank of Ghana, together with the court registrar, to ensure the destruction of the seized counterfeit notes. The court further ordered that Sharma be deported after serving his prison sentence.

Prosecutors told the court that investigations revealed Sharma, who was responsible for handling and keeping the company’s cash, allegedly broke into his employer’s safe while the businessman was travelling abroad and replaced genuine US dollar notes with counterfeit ones.

Further checks within the company also revealed that large amounts of Ghana cedis had been substituted with fake GH¢200 notes.

The Bank of Ghana later confirmed that the recovered currency notes were counterfeit.

During police investigations, Sharma reportedly admitted that the fake notes had been kept in the company’s office.