MONROVIA – Persons and institutions caught stealing power will now go to jail for years and pay fines ranging up to ten thousand US dollars, after Liberia’s President George Manneh Weah signed the Power Theft Act on October 4, 2019, following its passage into law by the Legislature. Power theft is considered as Second Degree Felony and an individual or institution is guilty of this crime “knowingly and willfully” tampering with transmission and distribution lines and interference or destroying of electric meter and/or improper use of it. If found guilty in court, violators shall be subjected to tough penalties, which range from no less than 2 years with a maximum of ten in prison and fines ranging from US400.00 to up to US10,000.00 depending on the gravity of the offense. At various levels, individual(s) can be punished for power theft it he/she causes or abets or helps in tampering with LEC power lines or meter by seeking, accepting, using, attempting to get or agreeing to receive for himself or others electric current through illegitimate means, either connection or reconnection. For example, Section 3 d of the Power Theft law states: “Any person who has been convicted of Second Degree Felony for tampering with transmission facilities of electric power shall be sentenced to a definite term of imprisonment which shall be no less than three (3) years, and no more than five (5) years maximum, and shall be sentenced to pay a fine of One Thousand United States Dollars (US$1,000.00) or double the gain realized from the commission of the crime.”Also, harsh penalties are also stipulated in the law for industrial, commercial entities or other organized groups or syndicates that are caught involved in power theft directly or by aiding and abetting this crime.

Source: Front Page Africa December 16, 2019 05:26 UTC