An Assistant Collector of the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), Humphrey Ellis Agbeehia, has been remanded in police custody after he was arrested last Thursday for alleged bribery.

He was arrested at the Long Room Branch of the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) at the Tema Harbour after he had collected ¢1 million out of the ¢2.5 million he demanded before facilitating the clearing of the personal effects of the complainant, Mr Kwasi Agyemang.

The suspect, whose duty post was at the Golden Jubilee Terminal, had earlier collected ¢1.5 million from the complainant.

His arrest came a week after four officials of CEPS who allegedly collected a GH¢2,000 (¢20 million) bribe from an importer had been apprehended at the Car Park.

The suspects, Alphonse Quainoo, Collector; Samuel Tei Nyakotey, Cornelius Amekudzi and Emmanuel Hammond, all Assistant Collectors, are currently on bail.

A source close to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service told the Daily Graphic that the suspect initially demanded ¢6 million from the complainant.

It said following the intervention of a friend of the complainant's, the suspect agreed to a ¢2.5 million deal. It said the complainant gave the suspect ¢1.5 million, with the pledge of paying the balance later.

The source said the suspect kept on calling the complainant to demand the payment of the balance.

It said the complainant informed his elder brother about it and he, in turn, notified the Justice Baddoo Committee about it.

Under an arrangement, the source said, the committee gave ¢1 million which had been marked with some chemicals to the complainant to be given to the suspect.

The source said when the complainant went to the Golden Jubilee Terminal to give Ellis the money, the suspect asked that he meet him at the GCB Branch at the Long Room.

It said policemen watched as the suspect collected the money and was apprehended soon after.

It said the suspect was taken to his immediate boss, where a search was conducted on him and the money retrieved.

The source said Ellis was put before the Regional Tribunal, presided over by Mr Justice Frank Manu, who remanded him into police custody to re-appear on October 10, 2007.

The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu on July 30, this year, inaugurated a four-member committee to investigate allegations of extortion and bribery leveled against some officers of CEPS.

The committee, which is under the chairmanship of Mr Justice Samuel Glenn Baddoo, who is also the Chairman of the Police Council, is currently hearing evidence from witnesses.

Source: Daily Graphic