Timbillah report to be ready end of 1st quarter – IGP

The report on the Police Service’s interdicted former Director General in charge of Human Resource Development, COP Patrick Timbillah, will be ready by the end of the first quarter of this year, acting Inspector General of Police John Kudalor has said in an exclusive interview with Accra 100.5 FM’s breakfast show ‘Ghana Yensom’ on Friday February 19.

Mr Kudalor told host Chief Jerry Forson that the report had delayed because “we have to call all the witnesses involved in the matter”.

“But definitely, it is being worked on and it will be ready and made public by the end of the first quarter of this year,” he said.

On January 5 this year, Mr Kudalor promised in an interview with Accra100.5fm that the report would be ready by February. At the time, he said: “I’ve inherited all assets and liabilities of the Police Service since I took over as acting IGP …I’ve given the commander an ultimatum to present a report on the investigation. There are three reports. Two are ready. The final one is yet to be completed. Once all are done, we’ll put the report in the public domain.”

In late September last year, the Director General of Administration, DCOP Rose Atinga Bio, said the Ghana Police Command was not covering up any alleged wrongdoing by COP Timbillah.

Mr Timbillah was implicated in a police recruitment scam in March 2015 and interdicted, following which an internal service inquiry was started against him.

Atinga Bio, who told Joy News on Tuesday, September 29, 2015 that the Service would not be railroaded into making any premature public disclosures on the inquiry, rebuffed suspicions by anti-graft campaigners that the protracted investigation betrayed mischief on the part of the Police.

She said the lack of knowledge on the part of anti-graft crusaders about the processes involved in conducting a service inquiry was what was leading them to make hasty conclusions.

According to her, whatever had been found by the investigators so far had been put before those in charge of the inquiry, adding that “the inquiry will disclose whether COP Patrick Timbillah has misconducted himself or not…”

“I … want to assure those who believe we are covering somebody that this is not the line of thinking of the Ghana Police Service,” she added.

COP Timbillah was interdicted after a committee set up by the Police to investigate the scam traced a letter of the fraudulent act to him.

Immediately after his arrest and interdiction, David Nenyi Ampah-Bennin, director general in charge of public affairs of the Ghana Police Service, told the media that investigations into the affair could be over in about a week, after which prosecutions will begin. However, almost a year after the interdiction little has been heard of the inquiry.

Seven people were arrested by the police in connection with the scam.

They include two police officers Constable Ruth Agyiri, 27, of the Central Police Station in Koforidua, who allegedly swindled a victim of GHS1500, and Corporal Gideon Sarpong.

The others are a radio presenter of Silver Radio Amos Brown, 40, who, according to Ampah-Bennin, has taken various sums from over 40 persons to enlist them in the police service; Richard Harrison, 30, who lured others for over GHS4200, and a pastor Paul Danso.