By Joyce Danso
Accra, Sept. 21, GNA – Bolt Holdings OU says it intends to appeal against a Court decision that awarded GHC1.9 million cedis damages against it in the respect of an identity theft suit.
“While we respectively acknowledge the court ruling, our legal team has reviewed the decision and intends to appeal the ruling. We are confident that the appeal process will provide a more accurate outcome.”
In a statement issued by Henry Whyte, Senior Operations Manager, Bolts Rides, and copied to GNA, the Company said the Court ruling related to “an isolated incident involving the impersonation of a Bolt rider by a Bolt driver. While this isolated incident originated beyond our control, we take this matter very seriously.”
The statement said Bolt had not disputed that the identity theft of the Bolt Rider occurred entirely outside of Bolt Ecosystem and was not caused as a result of any breach or compromise of the Bolt App system.
However, it remained committed to “respecting and protecting the privacy and security of riders and driver’s personal data, which is a top priority.”
Bolt is a super-app with over 150 million customers in more than 45 countries in Europe and Africa and it offers a range of mobility products for different service’s needs.
An Adentan Circuit Court on September 19, 2024, awarded GHC1.9 million compensatory damages against Bolt Holding OU, owners of Bolt platform in Ghana.
The Court further ordered Bolt Holdings OU, the first Defendant (DI), to pay cost of GH₵20,000.
The Court, presided over by Mrs Sedinam Awo Kwadam, dismissed the claim against Bolt Ghana Limited, the second defendant in the suit, in its entirety.
According to the Court, Bolt Ghana Limited was not the appropriate party to the suit.
The judgement of the Court came after Justice Noah Adade, the plaintiff, who is a lecturer at the Kumasi Technical University, had gone to court over “identity theft.”
The Plaintiff, who is also a Board Chairman of the University, on August 1, 2022, ordered a bolt ride on his phone and found himself, his photo and details being the driver responding to pick him up.
When the driver arrived, it was his own employee, Peter Walker, who was driving the vehicle.
Peter Walker confessed to stealing the identity of the plaintiff and successfully registering himself as a driver on the Bolt App in 2022.
Engagements with Bolt Holdings OU did not yield any fruitful results by way of compensation for Mr Adade, hence the suit.
The Court in its judgement noted that the suit hinged on the processing of Mr Adade’s personal data, which was undertaken by Bolt Holdings OU at the request of “the identity thief.”
According to the Court, the processing was done by Bolt Holdings OU, hence it was the appropriate party to the suit.
It noted that Bolt Holdings owed the Plaintiff “Duty of Care” and reasonable Standard of the duty of care was founded in Section 20, 21, 28 and 30 of Act 843 of the Data Protection Act, to conduct a liveliness identity verification check as part of its own Digital Verification of Data subjects who purportedly requested for an application to become Bolt drivers on the Bolt platform.
“The failure of Bolt Holdings to undertake the liveliness identity verification check as part of its digital identity verification check while processing the personal data of the purported applicant, amount to a breach of Bolt’s duty of care owed to the Plaintiff herein.”
It held that Mr Adade’s personal data was not procured “directly” from him and thus was processed without his prior consent.
According to the Court Mr Adade, seeing himself as a bolt driver operating over an uncertain period in the year 2022 caused him “profound emotional distress.”
“Knowing an unknown number of Bolt ride users must have thought him to be a Bolt driver despite him being a co -founder and Chief Executive Officer of Glydetek Group, a financial Software Solutions provider for over 70 financial entities in Ghana and a lecturer and Board Chairman at the Kumasi Technical University, surely had him emotionally distraught and traumatised.”
Looking at reputation in his industry, the court held that, to be described as bolt driver, could be considered as a “downgrade and a dent on his reputation in the minds of right-thinking members of society, especially in his community of businessmen and women.
“This Court recognises this fact, with no prejudice to bolt drivers,” it stated.
The Court held that it did not find any evidence to support the claim made by Bolt that the Mr Adade’s negligence contributed to his identity by Peter Walker.
It said he was not negligent in any way that might have caused his identity to have been stolen and used to register him unknowingly and without his prior consent as a driver on the Bolt App.
Mr Adade did not abet his impersonation,” the court declared.
In an over-aching need to sanitize Bolt Holdings OU as well as other ride-hailing platform systems, the Court ordered the Data Protection Commission to ensure that Forensic audit of a defendants’ systems and a database is undertaken with Bolt Holdings by conducting a liveliness identity verification check for all its drivers registered on the Bolt App or Platform up until the March 2024 registrations.
“The Data Protection Commission shall ensure that other ride-hailing platforms in Ghana undertake this exercise as well, for the period they have not undertaken such verification processes for the drivers who used their platforms,” the Court ordered.
GNA