A middle aged self-employed man is in the grips of the Commercial Crimes Unit of the Ghana Police Headquarters, for posing as an officer of the Ghana Armed Forces, attached to the 42 Engineers Regiment.
The suspect, who gave his name as Bernard Eshun, was arrested by staff of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Accra West Region, and handed over to the police.
An ECG staff with the Revenue Protection Unit, Marcus Yeboah, recounted that in 2017, the suspect introduced himself as personnel of the Ghana National Fire and Rescue Service when he led some ECG customers to plead for leniency, after they had been busted for tampering with the meter in their house and using power for free.
The customers were charged for illegally consuming electricity, and a new prepaid meter, loaded with the penalty charge, was installed to replace the tampered one.
Mr Yeboah said that monitoring of the customers' accounts later revealed that though they had been barred from purchasing prepaid credit till the penalty charge was fully paid, the customers had not made any payments.
He said an investigation revealed that the customers had 'bypassed' the new meter and were using power for free.
When members of the household were interrogated, Eshun was mentioned as the one who facilitated the illegal connection, and claimed that the suspect collected GH¢3,000.00 to pay to ECG on their behalf, according to Mr Yeboah.
He said Eshun showed up at the ECG regional office, this time, fully clothed in military uniform to intervene on behalf of the disconnected customers.
Mr Yeboah indicated that the ECG staff became suspicious and once he wasn't able to prove his military identity, he was arrested and handed over to the police.
The Accra West General Manager, Mr George Appiah-Kubi, cautioned the public against dealing with persons who are not staff of ECG.
He asked customers to demand identity cards from anyone who would purport to work for the ECG.
The Commercial Crime Unit is continuing investigations.
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