Four people granted bail for examination leakage

Tarkwa (W/R), Jan. 12, GNA - Four people including a student from Cape Coast Polytechnic allegedly involved in examination leakage at the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) at Tarkwa were each granted 200 million cedis bail with a surety to be justified by a Tarkwa Circuit court.

They pleaded not guilty before the court presided over by Mr John Ajet Nasam and would re-appear on January 24. The accused persons were Godwin Tetteh, student of Cape Coast Polytechnic and former messenger of the University, Lawrence Amoah, Samuel Kingsley Eyipey, both messengers of the University and Ahmed Issah, a shopkeeper.

Prosecuting, Police Chief Inspector Joseph Apaloo said Tetteh was employed as a messenger at the Faculty of Engineering of the University where he duplicated keys to offices of the Faculty. He said when Tetteh stopped working at the University in October last year, he did not return the duplicated keys to the authorities but rather assured Eyipey the new messenger employed at the Faculty he (Tetteh) could assist Eyipey to have access to examination questions. Police Chief Inspector Apaloo said Eyipey accepted the offer and on November 5, last year Tetteh left for Cape Coast Polytechnic to register and returned on November 12.

The prosecutor said in the morning of November 14, when Eyipey reported for work, Tetteh went to him with a diskette and some duplicate keys.

He said the two accused persons opened the office of Dr. A. Simons a lecturer of the Faculty with one of the duplicate keys and slotted the diskette into a computer and copied first year Basic Mechanics examinations questions from the computer.

The prosecution said after that, they locked the office and went to the office of Mr. J. K. Amporful, Mathematics Lecturer and copied unto the same diskette third year Numerical Analysis examination questions scheduled for December 8.

He said Tetteh brought the diskette to Issah his friend to look out for students, especially foreign students of the University to buy the questions.

Police Chief Inspector Apaloo said during the afternoon of the same day November 14, both Tetteh and Eyipey went to print two copies each of the questions at El-Roy Communication and Business Centre at Tamso, a suburb of Tarkwa and shared them.

He said the accused persons sold some of the questions to three students of the University yet to be arrested when school re-opens. The prosecution said the University authorities detected the leakage of the examinations questions and Mr. Agbomadzi, Head of Mechanical Engineering Department on November 18, wrote a letter to the Dean of the Faculty and the Vice Chancellor informing them of the leakage and subsequent cancellation of those two examination questions. He said on December 1, Eyipey went to the office of the Vice Chancellor and contacted Amoah to find out the letter on the detection and cancellation of the examination papers, sent to the Vice Chancellor's office.

Police Chief Inspector Apaloo said Amoah obliged took the letter and made a photocopy of it and sent it to Issah on the same day. The prosecution said based upon the information reaching the Vice Chancellor's Office, a seven-member investigation Committee was set up by the authorities.

He said the Committee found out that the four accused persons perpetrated the crime, the diskette and nine duplicate keys were also retrieved from Eyipey and a report was made to the police and the accused persons were arrested and after investigations charged with the offence.