Once again, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the North Tongu Member of Parliament, has been replied by the National Cathedral Secretariat over his allegation that the National Cathedral secretariat engaged in identity theft in the registration of the National Cathedral in the United States of America.
The Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa’s revelations made in episode 2 on the National Cathedral scandal, following his trip to the US, accused the National Cathedral of using the identity of a dead man to register the church in the US.
“Painstaking and unimpeachable investigations shockingly reveal that the March 2021 incorporation of the National Cathedral of Ghana and Bible Museum Foundation, Inc in Washington, D.C. was criminally executed through IDENTITY THEFT. By an intercepted IRS tax-exempt letter dated December 13, 2021 — I can confirm that the Employer ID Number for the National Cathedral of Ghana and Bible Museum Foundation, Inc is: 86-3859197.
“Further irrefutable forensic investigations reveal that the Social Security Number of: 863-85-9197 used to generate the Cathedral’s Employer ID Number, belongs to one Jose Salgado.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa claimed that upon having deeper investigations into the matter and “impregnable gold-standard validation, which include a report from police database, has established that 31-year-old Jose Salgado, who has many aliases including Jose Luis Delapaz, Jose Isabel Salgado, Jose Luis Paz and Jose L De was born in March 1983 and died on September 17, 2014.”
He continued to specify that it has emerged beyond any scintilla of doubt that the use of the Social Security Number of a dead “young male Hispanic” who has been dead for the past 9 years, was a fraudulent act, which was used to incorporate Ghana’s national cathedral in Washington, D.C.
“Clearly, it seems those responsible for this gross international embarrassment knew Jose Salgado’s death was yet to be formally reported to all the relevant US authorities and decided to take dubious but costly advantage.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
However, the Secretariat of the National Cathedral in a statement, described the allegations made by the MP, as a distortion of information and a deliberate attempt to twist the facts.
The statement signed by the Executive Director of the National Cathedral, Dr Paul Opoku Mensah said: “As a Ghanaian, I find it extremely embarrassing to see these expressed by the Ranking Member of Foreign Affairs in the Country’s Parliament. The main body of Episode 2, however, is the malicious accusation that the National Cathedral is guilty of the serious crime of “identity theft” in the registration of the National Cathedral Foundation in the USA.”
Secretariat Claims Okudzeto Ablakwa Distorts All Information He Finds
The National Cathedral Secretariat however, averred that Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa makes distortions out of all information he gains on the project at hand.
“But, this distortion is neither the result of an accident nor of ignorance. It reflects the modus operandi of the MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa. All his so-called “National Cathedral scandals” are distortions of information on the project!
“As we have consistently argued, and repeated in our Press Release of on May 3, 2023, the National Cathedral Project has been implemented with integrity, and with no criminality. As with the recklessly populist and reputationally-damaging accusations of the McCarthy era in the USA, the misinformation and distortions on the National Cathedral project will – ultimately – unravel!”
Dr. Paul Opoku Mensah
READ ALSO: NDC Instructs Member To Render Apologies To Dagbon FM journalist
