-Launches Investigation into How Manoj Obtained Faked Attestation from Office; Cautions Public to “Null and Void” Such Attestation
IPNEWS – The Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Liberia, Dr. Bhofal Chambers, has distanced itself from a purported document, circulating in some quarters, linking the Office to an attestation for fraudster Manoj Kumar alias Manoj kumar Vatwani, an Indian national, who was declared a national security threat and banned from entering Liberia.
In the faked attestation, which the fraudster Manoj hired another 419ner to fix under the signature of Bishop Dr. Jerry C. M. Yarpa, Speaker Chambers’ Chief of Office Staff, the 419ner writes as if it’s Dr. Yarpa writing an attestation from the Speaker on behalf of Manoj Vatwani alias Manoj Kumar Vastwani.
“While the Office of the Honorable Speaker of this 54th National Legislature has no intent to get involved in the glaring political fight between and among Indian Brethren and Friends, it will not be just and proper for us to idly and knowingly sit without objectively, responsibly and impartially giving our views concerning the somewhat existing conflict.
“Having said that, be it categorically known, that the issue regarding Mr. Vatwani being the Hindu or Indian Temple’s Pastor of the Liberia Shree Geeta Ashram can’t be done away with as the evidences are vividly there.
“The first indicator is the co-signing of the authentic document, an official letter of Invitation to the Honorable Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr. Bhofal Chambers, to the Hindu Temple Program in 2021, that was honored by the Hon. Speaker, and that letter was co-signed by Mr. Mandoj[Manoj] Vatwani as Pastor, along with the President, Laxmandas T. Bhojwani.”
The 419ner further stated that for the Indian Temple officials to deny Manoj at this time is “utter deception, and a sheer malicious act.” The purported document was issued on August 6, 2022.
However, in an August 12, 2022 press statement from the Speaker Office under the signature of Journalist Mr. George D. Watkins, Head of Political Affairs and Communications, the Speaker’s Office distanced itself and denounced any such consent to the fraud document that Manoj is now parading with in some quarters to give himself a face.
Via mobile phone, Watkins confirms to this newspaper that indeed Dr. Yarpa works in the Speaker’s Office but has no knowledge of the faked August 6, 2022 document that was done under his name.
“The Office emphasizes that it is not the constitutional prerogative of the Speaker to seek haven for any foreign national who comes in conflict with the laws of the Liberia under the country’s immigration doctrine.
“The Speaker’s Office wants to make it unequivocally cleared that the purported document circulating in some quarters about attestation for some antagonist and protagonist in the Indian Community in Liberia in reference to Mr. Manoj Vatwani, referred to as Pastor of Hindu Indian Temple and other Indian nationals should be considered null and void.
“Let it be known to all that such document is fraud and does not represent the Speaker’s Office, and should not be given any attention, or be used or accepted to justify any situation or condition.”
Watkins disclosed in the press statement that the Speaker’s Office has immediately launched an investigation to uncover the source of the fake document circulating and anyone found culpable will face the full with of the law.
Background
In a notice of concern to the general public published July 30th 2022, the head of the Indian Temple, Mr. Laxmandas T. Bhojwani, states: “This is to inform everyone concerned that I the undersigned Laxmandas T. Bhojwani, President of Geeta Ashram (Society of Geeta Ashram Inc. Legal registered entity as per the laws of the Republic of Liberia,) Waterside, Monrovia, Liberia, since 2003 here certify that Manoj Kumar alias Manoj Kumar Vatwani was only a devotee of the Geeta Ashram.”
According to the temple’s president, Vatwani never served as general manager, priest or pastor of the Geeta Ashram. He added: “He was a regular devotee only.” Bhojwani clarifies further, “All the information being circulated about his position in Geeta Ashram as General Manager, Priest or Pastor is false, baseless and misleading.”
One of the temple’s devotees, who had spoken to this newspaper on condition of anonymity, described Manoj as a “fraudster”, whom he said “fakes things for his own selfish gains.”
Vatwani was refused entry into the country by the Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) and was put on a plane and sent to Ghana in 2021.
Back in September 2021, he had sued the LIS at the Sixth Judicial Circuit Civil Law Court for being refused entry into Liberia at the Roberts International Airport (RIA) on September 14, 2021. Vatwani had petitioned the court that on that day, when he was refused entry, he was put back on a place and sent to Ghana onward to India. He argued that he had committed no crimes and that he needed to know why he wasn’t let in. After all his claims, he had petitioned the court to grant him permission to return to Liberia as a “right.” He had asked the court for “Declaratory Judgment.”
In their response, which was filed on October 28, 2021, through the Ministry of Justice, the LIS contends among other things that “a country may grant a visa or deny a visa to anyone without an explanation. That Petitioner Manoj Kumar uses multiple names such as Manoj Kumar or Manoj Kumar Vastwani and that Petitioner has lied under oath in making false and misleading representation that he is in Monrovia by the Caption of the Petition.”
The Liberian Government, through the LIS, further contended, according to the court document in the possession of this newspaper that “Petitioner is an undesirable alien and a threat to National Security who was being investigated but fled the country and evaded immigration authorities when an indictment was issued to be served on him. That Petitioner behavior was incompatible with his status as an alien therefore his reentry visa was cancelled because the Statute grants Respondent the Power to revoke and cancel and deny visas to alien.”
Back in December 2021 in India, Manoj and three other Indian men were being investigated for molestation of an Indian woman.
The news outlet, Amar Ujala, which reported on the alleged molestation by Manoj disclosed that a police charge sheet from Liberia back in September 2020 states that Manoj was expelled from Liberia after he had been accused of criminal conspiracy, fraud, acting under a fake name and terroristic threat. “There had been a plan to arrest him on September 9, 2020, when he fled the country,” the Amar Ujala said.
Manoj was one of four men against whom the female resident of Sindhunagar had filed a molestation complaint with police. The other men were Pradeep Rajani, Raju Rajani and Vinny Rajani, according to the news outlet.
Further in the report, Manoj and others harassed the lady, regarding a dispute over a plot of land.
The woman had alleged that Manoj, Pradeep, Raju and Vinny, all residents of Sindhunagar, wanted to occupy her house. According to her, Manoj and others had tried unsuccessfully many times to get her plot and that on December 21st, 2021, the four accused entered her house by breaking the door. When she resisted, the accused assaulted her and tore her clothes.
