A private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu, has criticised the manner in which the Management of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has handled the facts of the case involving the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Chairman Wontumi.
Chairman Wontumi was arrested by EOCO on May 27 without disclosing the reasons.
It was later in the day that his lawyer, Andy Appiah-Kubi informed journalists on the premises of EOCO that his client had been charged.
“They preferred some allegations against him, he refuted them. We have not finished with interrogation. We will come back tomorrow to continue if he gets well. They laid charges on the relationship between himself and EXIM Bank. We have also received a writ of summons from EXIM Bank and we will respond tomorrow,” Mr Appiah-Kubi further stated.
According to Mr Kpebu, EOCO’s silence on the reasons for Bernard Antwi-Boasiako’s arrest is what has led to persons associated with the NPP asserting that the bail condition is punitive.
“By now, EOCO should have told us why Wontumi is being charged. Raymond Archer is a journalist; he should know that lack of information in a case like this is not good. So, I will say that EOCO has not handled the process well,” Mr Kpebu said on the KeyPoints on May 31.
He explained that usually, the bail terms are based on the amount of money the suspect is being investigated for.
Mr Kpebu therefore urged those complaining about the quantum of the bail amount to rather find out the facts of the case, which will indicate that the amount may not be too much after all.
“I heard the former Vice President, Dr Bawumia crying that the bail condition is too much. I think he got the wrong advice. He should rather be asking for what he is being charged for,” Mr Kpebu added.
In the absence of information on a detailed facts of the case under investigation by EOCO, the Deputy Attorney-General, Dr Srem Sai has revealed that Chairman Wontumi is being investigated for money laundering and causing financial loss to the state, among others.
This is contained in a post on his Facebook page on May 29.
The suspect is also under a second strand of investigation which is part of a lager international organised crime scheme. The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) is assiduously working with our international law enforcement partners on this second strand of criminal investigations.”
