Former IPMC staff in court for stealing fuel

By Helena Selby
Some former workers of Intercom Programming Manufacturing Company Limited (IPMC), who allegedly stole fuel worth GH¢29,316 from the company, are standing trial at an Accra Circuit Court for stealing.

The accused persons are Michael Hills, Mohmoud Abubakar Siddique, Evans Afiano, Stanlous Koomson, Emmanuel Arkoh, Issah Adams Sadik Tetteh, Edem Koku Addo and Samuel Avalon Doku.

The accused persons, who had worked with the company for about three years, allegedly conspired with each other by recording prices exceeding the fuel figures, and at the end, shared it among themselves.

All accused persons are facing charges of conspiracy to commit crime and stealing, however, with the exception of the eighth accused person, Samuel Avalon Doku, the rest were absent from court yesterday.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges leveled against him before the court presided over by Mrs. Patience Mills-Tetteh.

The prosecutor, ASP Mary Agbozo, who claimed the rest of the accused were unaware of the date for the proceedings, promised the court to make them available on the next adjourned date. They are, therefore, expected to re-appear before the court on June 18, 2012.

Narrating the facts to the court, the prosecutor said that during December 2009, the first accused person conspired with the rest of the accused persons to steal from the company.

She said by so doing, the first accused person recorded high inflated mileages and fuel figures each time drivers of the accused persons go for fuel.

ASP Agbozo mentioned that at the end of the week, when the company makes payment, the accused persons deduct the difference from the actual cost, and the difference shared proportionally among themselves.

'The management of the company detected this in early 2011, and also employed J.A. Abraham & Co, an external auditing company, to audit the fueling system.

'Investigations disclosed that between December 2009 and January 2010, the accused persons conspired and stole fuel amounting to the said amount,' the prosecutor told the court.

According to her, the management reported the issue to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters for investigation, and the accused persons were arrested but denied the offence in their caution statement.