EOCO clears EC top officers

It has emerged that the three top officers accused of misappropriating GHC480,177.87 of the Endowment Fund of Staff of Electoral Commission (EC) have been cleared by the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO).

Georgina Opoku-Amankwaah, Deputy Commissioner in-charge of Finance and Administration; Kwaku Owusu Agyei-Larbi, Chief Accountant and Joseph Kwaku Asamoah, Finance Officer, were hounded out of office by the EOCO on the instructions of the EC chairperson, Charlotte Osei, over the alleged malfeasance, and their continuous absence from office is beginning to raise eyebrows since nothing was found against any of them.

Recently, Ms Opoku-Amankwaah, frustrated by alleged manipulation of the EOCO investigation, defied the ‘stay at home’ order and returned to work only for the anti-graft body to chase her out.

She said she was tired of the embarrassment being visited on her by her continued interdiction and decided to resume work, saying that under the law it is only the President of the Republic who can send her packing.

However, the EOCO officers said they were still investigating the alleged misappropriation of the EC’s Endowment Funds, even though at that time the investigation was said to be over.

AG’s Report

Daily Guide has sighted an official report from the Attorney General’s Department indicating that the affected officers might not have anything to do with the alleged malfeasance and that it is rather two others who could be charged, if there was any action to be taken in the matter.

The report, dated January 10, 2018, indicates that the focus of the EOCO investigation was on Samuel Yorke Aidoo, the then Director of Finance, as well as Ishmael Pensah, a former Chief Accountant, who no longer works with the EC.

In fact, the title of the docket, which reads, ‘The Republic vrs Samuel Yorke Aidoo and Ishmael Pensah, shows that the affected officers were mere witnesses in the whole matter and Mrs Osei is captured as the officer who had filed the complaint before the EOCO.

The said report to the EOCO, signed by Evelyn D. Keelson, a Chief State Attorney, on behalf of the AG, concludes, “we are of the view that until a comprehensive audit is conducted into the Endowment Fund of the staff of the Electoral Commission, it will be difficult to firmly establish the commission of any malfeasance.”