Report of gov’t official arrested in UK with £26m, ‘total fabrication’ – Information Minister

Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said media reports indicating a government official carrying £26 million has been arrested in the UK is a “total fabrication.”

He accused the opposition NDC of masterminding the fabrication of the publications for propaganda purposes.

“It is a total fabrication….it is a fabrication by the NDC and it is part of their strategy for these last eight weeks where they will churning out a lot of fabrication, lies and fake audiotapes” the minister spoke on Takoradi-based Skyy Power FM Monday.

“We are clear in our minds that it is the NDC for one or two reasons. The first person to articulate it publicly is Inusah Fusieni, NDC MP for Tamale Central.

“They are the ones who are championing it and articulating it on their online media platforms including Radio Gold online. And now you can also find that there is a fake audiotape that purports to be a piece of international news broadcast on it which is being circulated since last night,” he said.

He called on media houses to be circumspect in their reportage especially as elections beckons.

“We are calling on first of all the media and the general Ghanaian public to not fall for these fabrications and fake doctored or cooked up tapes,” the Information minister said.

The National Cybersecurity Center has also said it has forensically examined the viral audio and has found it to have been “computer-generated using available technologies for fictitious audio-visual creation and manipulation.”

The center said it is was working with the police to identify the source of the material and prosecute the content producer.

Quoting the Electronic Communications Act, the cybersecurity center said “a person who by means of electronic communications knowingly sends communication which is false or misleading and likely to prejudice the efficiency of life saving services or to endanger the safety of any person commits an offence.”

The offence could attract a five-year jail term.