The Dansoman Circuit Court has been told that the actual cost of the Electoral Commission (EC) stolen Biometric Verification Registration (BVR) kits is yet to be established.
The court, presided over by Halima Abdul El Lawah Basit, heard that the Deputy Commissioner in-charge of Procurement, Kofi Kyei Baidu, has not disclosed the cost of the BVR kits.
Establishing the cost of the BVR kits was directed by the court to determine the bail bond of the accused persons who were in remand.
Counsel for three of the accused persons – Philip Tetteh, Benjamin Fienyi, Clifford Yeboah –however told the court that each of stolen laptops would not cost more than GH¢2,000.
He said the laptops are one old Dell types, which is very heavy, and would not cost more than GH¢2,000.00.
Since the prosecuting officer, Chief Inspector Chief Christopher Wonder, had told the court he was not sure of the cost and also did not oppose the bail application.
Philip Benjamin and Clifford were granted bail. Their bail conditions are GH¢20,000 with two sureties each and must be public servants earning not less than GH¢2,000 and one must be justified.
The accused persons are to report to the police every week. The case has been adjourned to June 5, 2024 for Case Management Conference (CMC).
Prior to the bail application, C/Insp Wonder told the court that his disclosures were not complete and, therefore, prayed for adjournment.
The counsel, in response argued that the prosecution’s prayer was at the disadvantage of the accused persons who had remained in custody.
He added that apart from the third accused (A3) Joseph Blankson Adumadzie, data administrator at EC, who was granted bail as a result of appeal at the High Court, the others liberties were being curtailed in a continuous request for adjournment.
The accused persons have been charged with conspiracy to commit a crime, stealing and dishonestly receiving. They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Brief facts
On March 9, 2024 officials of EC’s Information Technology Department, commenced regular maintenance of BVR kits, which each BVR kit had a laptop computer, scanner, printer, biometric device and a battery.
During the maintenance, it was detected that five dell laptops, belonging to the EC had been stolen out of the set of kits.
A report was made to the National Security, resulting in the arrest of the accused persons.
Three HP laptops of the EC were retrieved from Yeboah, and HP printer and 3 Biometric Verification Devices (BVD) retrieved from Fienyi.
Fienyi and Adumadzie allegedly planned to steal some printers, when the EC in March, 2023 engaged its casual workers and security men to remove materials from the commission’s warehouse at Ridge (EC old Head office) to a warehouses in Accra.
Investigations further revealed that Philip Tetteh stole three HP laptops from the kit boxes and gave same to Yeboah to keep and repair.
Blankson on the hand stole HP Printer from the kits and gave it to Fienyi, who also took three BVD printer chargers.
