EOCO and FIC saw me as a 'bad boy’ – Afenyo Markin

Outspoken Lawyer and Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo Markin says he was regarded as a thorn in the flesh of the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) and the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) when he begun doing financial crime cases several years back.

According to him, he launched a strong defence of his clients whenever they had issues with the aforementioned state institutions, which most of the time saw his clients winning their cases in court.

Speaking to Bola Ray on Starr Chat on Starr FM, Hon. Afenyo Markin who is perhaps the youngest Legislators who is rising very fast said he feels fulfilled that he’s been able to effect a change in the manner in which accused persons used to be badly treated by EOCO officials.

“I do a lot of financial crime cases; which has to do with money laundering and the like, and there’s enforcement with respect to the anti-money laundering. When I started, the FIC and EOCO saw me as a bad boy, in this country when you are doing something, you can get many people going against you, but if you force to do it and it becomes the principle you get people celebrating it without celebrating you.

“I remember those days at EOCO, when a person’s account is frozen, the kind of things that were happening were not too palatable, but I fought against it. I remember my first time I sought appointment with the then Executive Director…boldly I said I don’t understand why if my client or somebody is written to and he comes here, your people should arrest him. Apparently he didn’t even know of that conduct by his officers, at least that aspect was dealt with and things changed.