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Ten individuals, including employees of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), have been accused of stealing GHS2,143,270 in proceeds from pre-paid credit. The accused have been granted bail, with the High Court presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo admitting Ali Nasiru Shaibu, a Computer Programmer at the ICT Department of ECG, to bail in the sum of GHS 4 million with two sureties to be justified. Nine others were also granted bail in the sum of GHS300,000 with one surety each to be justified. The accused, including Shaibu, Grace Gardiner, Kasoa’s Chief Supervising Cashier, and Technicians Anthony D.K Quaye and Ibrahim Baba Adamu, among others, face charges of conspiracy to steal, stealing, and money laundering.
The prosecution alleges that ECG entered into a partnership with a number of ICT companies, including Ghana Electrometer Company, in 2003 to provide prepaid power distribution to its customers in Ghana. ECG designed customised meters for reading prepaid credit which were installed for customers, and customers were charged with prepaid reloadable cards after the credit had been electronically loaded on them. ECG engaged the services of private vendors to sell the prepaid power credits for the companies and installed prepaid dispensing software on their computers. The operations of the private vendors were monitored by the ICT Department of ECG at the Head Office in Accra.
In March 2017, ECG management received information that some private vendors in the Volta Region were selling more credit than the quota they had purchased. The prosecution held that investigations conducted revealed that in August 2016, Shaibu travelled to Hohoe to resolve the prepaid connectivity challenge for Gariba Awudu Misbaw. During the process, Shaibu and Misbaw allegedly agreed that Shiabu should manipulate the software and send Misbaw to sell without the knowledge of the Hohoe District Office, ECG, and afterward, Shaibu would delete the transaction from the software and they would share the proceeds. As agreed on, Shaibu manipulated the system and sent prepaid credit to Misbaw without following due process leading to the dishonest sale of prepaid credit from August 17, 2016, to March 2017.
The prosecution alleged that during the same period, Shaibu agreed and entered into a similar deal with Alfred Brown, and he dishonestly sold prepaid credit worth GHS 1,203, 249.26 and they allegedly shared the proceeds. With the same modus operandi, Shaibu, together with Muntaru Adamu, Donkor, Kyei, and other accused persons, shared proceeds of prepaid credit sales. Investigations revealed that all the accused persons dishonestly appropriated a total sum of GHS2,143,270.15 belonging to ECG.
During interrogation, the accused persons refunded GH¢282,600. The police have also retrieved an unregistered Toyota Highlander Station Wagon and a Mercedes Benz from Shaibu, and identified two houses located at Amasaman in the Greater Accra Region and another at Bohyen Junction, Kumasi, all belonging to Shaibu, which are alleged to be proceeds of the crime. The Court has ordered the prosecution to file the first set of disclosures on the accused persons and their lawyers and adjourned the matter to April 27.
