Two remanded for Power theft

Philip Emmanuel Yankey, a 35-year-old Manager has been remanded by an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly stealing electricity worth GHC8,390 at Shaishie, Accra.

Yankee was charged with 10 counts of stealing and intentional interference or knowingly allowing interference with suppliers’ distribution system, meter, or any equipment.

He pled not guilty before the court presided over by Mr. Bright Samuel Acquah.

Yankee is expected to reappear on April 12, 2023.

The prosecution led by Mr. Paul Asibi Abariga, General Manager in charge of Prosecution, prayed the court to remand the accused person pending further investigations into the matter.

The prosecution’s case is that the complainant Henry Nii Lartey is an ECG Field Investigator.

It said Yankee is also the engineer of Oasis Park Residence at Shaishie.

The Prosecution said on January 16, 2023, the complainant and his team of ECG Technicians were on their normal inspection of electricity meters.

It said the team visited Oasis Park Residence, apartments for rentals and detected that the company had tapped power with 2.5-millimetre cables and installed prepaid meters with serial numbers P161121587, P16121588, 24912010345, 24912033602, 249120333578.

The Prosecution said all the meters were connected “in such a way that they were not recording power consumption.”

It said the meters were inspected in the presence of the accused person and he was given the summons to report at the ECG District Office at Legon.

Yankee, who was later referred to the Police, indicated he had nothing to say about the offences.

In another development, the same court has remanded William Ahorlu, the Customer Supervisor.

Ahorlu is facing charges of stealing power worth over GHC5,858 and intentionally interfering with ECG power system.

He is expected to appear before the court on April 13, 2023.

It is the case of the prosecution that on November 2, 2022, an ECG official known as Issah Yusif and his team visited Ahorlu’s rented apartment to inspect ECG meters.

The prosecution said the team discovered that Ahorlu had used a 2.5-millimeter cable to tap into ECG’s power before installing meter number 151075667. The meter was not recording power consumed

Ahorlu was arrested and he told the Police he bought ECG Power worth GHC50.00 to top up anytime his credit ran out.

“Investigations by ECG revealed that Ahorlu had never bought ECG power since August 2022, ” the prosecution told the court.