The Dansoman Circuit Court has remanded three Electoral Commission (EC) workers and a student into police custody on charges of stealing laptops and Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits belonging to the Commission.
Philip Tetteh, a labourer, Benjamin Fienyi, a security man, and Joseph Blankson Adamadze, a database administrator, are jointly charged with conspiracy to steal and stealing. Clifford Yeboah, a 23-year-old student, faces charges of dishonestly receiving stolen items.
All four accused persons have denied the charges before the court presided over by Halima Abdul El Lawal Basit, the trial judge. Chief Inspector Christopher Wonder, the prosecutor, informed the court that investigations were ongoing, and the accused persons could interfere if granted bail. Additionally, crucial information stored on the stolen laptops had not yet been retrieved by the police.
As a result, the court remanded the accused persons into custody until April 29, 2024. Prosecution recounted to the court that the complainants were officials from the EC. On March 9 of the current year, during routine maintenance of BVR kits by the Commission's Information Technology Department, it was discovered that five Dell laptops belonging to the EC had been stolen.
A report was subsequently made to the National Security, leading to the arrest of the accused persons. Three HP laptops belonging to the EC were recovered from Yeboah, along with an HP printer and three Biometric Verification Device (BVD) printers from Fienyi.
Further investigations revealed that Fienyi and Adamadze had planned to steal additional printers during a previous engagement with the EC in March 2023. Casual workers and security personnel had been tasked with relocating materials from the EC's old head office in Ridge to a warehouse in Accra.
Philip Tetteh was implicated in stealing three HP laptops from the kit boxes, which he then handed over to Yeboah for repair. Blankson stole an HP printer and gave it to Fienyi, who also took three BVD printer chargers home.
