A businessman was yesterday jailed six years by an Accra circuit court for stealing MTN recharge cards.

The convict, Francis Pinkrah Jnr, who is a businessman and a resident of Weija Old Barrier, was said to have on 17th and 23rd August, 2012 at Dansoman, a suburb of Accra, stolen MTN recharge cards valued at GHc157,603.50, belonging to one Theresah Asiedu.

The court, presided over by Justice Francis Obiri, found him guilty and sentenced him to six years’ imprisonment in hard labour.

He was also ordered to pay GHc157,000 to the complainant.

Facts

The facts of the case are that Francis Pinkrah convinced the complainant to deal in recharge cards due to the profit involved.

The complainant became interested and told her husband, a witness in the case, about the profit in dealing in recharge cards. The accused person reportedly took the complainant to IZONE Company at Labone, the sole authorized dealers in MTN recharge cards.

The husband of the complainant also made a follow-up to the company’s office and spoke to the management so that the complainant would be supplied the cards on credit.

The company started supplying the recharge cards to both the complainant and the accused on credit. It became a common practice that both parties occasionally took each other’s stock from the company and handed it over to the other partner.

During the month of August 2012, the complainant reportedly travelled to her hometown to spend some weeks and the accused took advantage of her absence and collected recharge cards worth GHc157,603.50 in her name and sold them.

The accused person failed to pay back after the sale and failed to inform the complainant too. This came to the attention of the complainant when payment was not forthcoming and the CEO of the company questioned her about it.

The company and the complainant then confronted Francis Pinkrah who admitted the act and made a part payment of GHc30,000 to the husband of the complainant and asked for some time to finish paying.

However, he defaulted and the case was reported to the police, leading to his arrest. Pinkrah admitted the offence and said that he could not make full payment because IZONE, in collaboration with MTN, had blocked the recharge cards.

He further claimed he had made payment to the company, leaving a balance of GHc90,000. However, investigations conducted at the company’s office at Labone proved otherwise.

The accused person was arraigned before court after investigations.