The Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST) has denied the figures quoted for its purchase of 18 iPhones for critical staff.
According to the report which the company describes as mischievous, the purchase cost GH¢28,541,261.00. “We would like to respond to the misinformation as follows. The company bought eighteen (18) pieces of iPhone 13 Pro Max phones for our corporate executives in May 2022.
“The total cost of the phones stood at Two Hundred and Thirty-Four Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢234,000.00) grossed up for taxes at Two Hundred and Eighty-Five Thousand, Four Hundred and Twelve Ghana Cedis, Sixteen Pesewas (GH¢285,412.16).”
The amount, the rebuttal continued, “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.”
Explaining the reason for the purchase, the company said it wants the critical 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 company reaction pointed out, adding that “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.”
The GH¢28,541,261.00 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, BOST pointed out.
The erroneous and mischievous report, BOST has demanded of the public, must be disregarded.