A resident of Adenta who posed as an official of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to defraud an Accra businessman has been sentenced to four months imprisonment by the Osu Magistrate Court. The convict, Gabriel Kokosu, was also fined GH¢540 or in default serve 12 months in prison. The court, presided over by Mr Aboagye Tandoh, further ordered Kokosu to refund the GH¢3,000 he had collected from the complainant in the case under the pretence of securing him an ECG vendor's right. Kokosu had pleaded not guilty to two counts of falsely pretending to be a public officer and defrauding by false pretence but was convicted on the charge of falsely pretending to be a public officer. The facts of the case were that the complainant in the case, Mr Maurice Ocquaye, the Director of Noyes and Associates at Nmai Dzorn in Accra, had informed one Vincent Agyare, an electrician working in his company, about his intention to become a third party vendor of the ECG. Agyare then took it upon himself to help his boss and went to the ECG District Office at Legon, where he met one Francis, who directed him to Kokosu, the convict. Agyare later led Kokosu, who was then wearing an ECG name tag, to Mr Ocquaye's house, where Kokosu introduced himself as a member of staff of the ECG and told Mr Ocquaye that he could make him a vendor of the ECG. On May 9, 2010, Mr Ocquaye wrote an application and added GH¢5,000 which he gave to Agyare, who in turn handed over the application and GH¢3,000 to the accused and kept the remainder to be paid to Kokosu when the vendor’s right had been secured from the ECG. He said six months after the money had been paid; Mr Ocquaye contacted Kokosu to know the status of his application. He was told to get his office ready for inspection and installation of the vending equipment. Mr Ocquaye obliged, put up a structure and equipped the office with the necessary equipment. Thereafter, anytime he called Kokosu, he gave all sorts of excuses. The court learnt further that after becoming tired of the excuses given by the accused, Mr Ocquaye called on the Accra East Regional Manager of the ECG, Mr Ben Nyatefe, who detected that the complainant had been defrauded. The case was then reported to the police and Kokosu arrested. In his caution statement, he admitted the offence and was charged and put before court.