Accra Jan. 16, GNA- An employee of a printing firm in Accra accused of leaking the contents of 2003 Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) papers for private candidates, on Friday appeared before an Accra Circuit Court charged with conspiracy and stealing.

Emmanuel Ohene Nartey, 30, and three others, Edward Ohene Kofi, Gideon Sarbah 29, and Isaiah Paani Adjaot have also been charged for dishonestly receiving, conspiracy and disclosing the contents of examination papers.

They pleaded not guilty and the court, presided over by Mrs Elizabeth Ankomah granted each of them 60 million cedis bail with two sureties to re-appear on January 19.

Prosecuting, Police Inspector Bennette Sarfo told the court that the complainants are officials of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) in Accra.

Nartey is an employee of the Printers of WAEC question papers and operates the machine folder of the press, while Ohene is a student of Takoradi Polytechnic and a brother to Nartey. Sarbah and Adjaot are businessmen working with Bozo Company, a construction firm in Accra. Prosecution said between October 30 and November 1, last year, during the 2003 SSCE examination for private candidates, it was detected that seven examination papers, including Mathematics, English and social studies had leaked.

WAEC therefore reported the matter to the police for investigations and a number of candidates were arrested from some examination centres in Accra and Kumasi for interrogation.

Consequently, Adjaot was traced and arrested and he mentioned Sarbah as his source. When Sarbah was arrested he admitted that even though he was not writing the SSCE, he bought the question papers namely Chemistry, Integrated Science, Technical Drawing, Elective and Core mathematics from Ohene after he (Ohene) had asked him to sell the papers.

Prosecution said Sarbah in turn sold out the papers to a number of candidates and got 1.5 million cedis from the sale.

Ohene and Nartey were arrested and during investigations witnesses identified Ohene and Sarbah as those who faxed and received the question papers.