The National Cathedral Secretariat has once again responded to the North Tongu Member of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, over his allegation that the National Cathedral secretariat engaged in identity theft in registering the church in the United States of America.
In episode two of revelations by Mr Ablakwa on the National Cathedral following his trip to the US, the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament 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. (See letter attached).
“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. (See evidence attached).”
“Deeper investigations 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. (See extract attached). It has therefore emerged beyond any scintilla of doubt that the Social Security Number of a deceased young male Hispanic who died 9 years ago was fraudulently 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.”
But the Secretariat of the National Cathedral in a statement described the allegations 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.
“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!”
