By: Alimatu Kargbo
The Magistrate Court No. 1 in Freetown on Thursday heard a case involving allegations of electricity meter tampering brought against two former staff members of BloomBank Africa.
The first accused, Musa Abdul, served as the bank’s Human Resource and Administrative Officer until his resignation in August 2024. The second accused, Joshua (surname not provided), was initially an outsourced dispatch staff before being appointed as Administrative Officer.
Representing the first accused was lawyer C.G. Thomas. The prosecution team included C. Pujeh, C. Davies, and about seven others.
The prosecution’s first witness, Ernest Ohue—Chief Internal Auditor at BloomBank Africa—testified that his role involves providing independent assurance on risk management, corporate governance, and internal controls, including investigations.
Mr. Ohue stated that between January 2, 2023, and March 31, 2024, an incident occurred on December 6, 2023, when three officers from the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA) visited the bank’s Rawdon Street branch and disconnected its electricity meter. The bank was unaware of the disconnection at the time, as it was operating on a generator. However, CCTV footage later revealed that the EDSA officers had removed the meter.
Following the incident, Mr. Ohue, Executive Officer Victor Eda, and Head of Business Kunle Oyewone visited EDSA’s office, where they met with the head of auditing, Mr. Wurie. According to Ohue, they were informed that the bank had previously been invited for questioning on a case of meter interference, and the invitation had been given to the second accused, Joshua.
Mr. Wurie provided them with a copy of the invitation letter, and the original was later recovered from the second accused and tendered in court. When questioned, Joshua admitted receiving the letter but claimed he believed it was a matter he could handle personally, which is why he failed to notify the Deputy General Manager.
Mr. Ohue further testified that he retrieved all the bank’s electricity payment vouchers for January to December 2023—amounting to approximately Le 619,000-and presented them to EDSA to prove the bank had been purchasing electricity credit. However, Engineer Wurie allegedly reviewed the vouchers and stated that the receipts appeared to be false.
The matter was adjourned to May 16, 2025.
