Bulk Energy Storage and Transportation Company (BEST), formerly BOST, has clarified that the cost of the 18 iPhones it bought for its top executives captured in its financial statement which has gone viral in both traditional and social media is about Gh¢243,000 and not Gh¢28,000,000 as reported.
According to the company, the over 28.5 million cedis, which has become the subject of discussion, is “both erroneous and mischievous”, saying the correct sum was 234,000 cedis, but went up to GH¢285,412.00 after taxes were paid.
“The Twenty-Eight Million, Five Hundred and Forty-One Thousand, Two Hundred and Sixty-One Ghana Cedis (GHS28,541,261.00) in the report may be due to a typographical error of placing the dot (.) two steps to the right which, on the face of the document, converted the GH¢285,412.61 to GH¢28,541,261.00,
This means each unit of the phone was bought at a price of over 15,800 cedis.
The statement said the amount went through the necessary tender processes and the purchase had since been approved as above board in official audit reports.
“The amount is captured in the financial reports of the company and the Auditor General, who audits the company, at least over the past three years, vetted the decision and the value and made no adverse findings about same,” the statement added.
Explaining why the company bought the iPhones, BOST said: “The reason for the purchase of the devices was to equip the team to stay in touch with the management information and business intelligence systems of the company for efficient decision-making.
“In the petroleum storage and transportation space, a split second can make the difference between success and failure. The results so far attest to the efficiency of the systems put in place which includes the access points for key members of the team to access processed information for efficient decision-making,” it added.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
