The Executive Director of The Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO), COP Retired Frank Adu-Poku has stated that his office does not succumb to political interference in the line of duty.
According to him though the perception is there, his outfit always endeavours to work above partisan lines.
“Since my appointment in March 2019, I have been so professional. If anyone can claim that I am being used as a political tool, I believe that person will have a lot to go through before he can provide that evidence. Yes, the perception is there but the way the head of the organisation conducts himself will go a long way to speak to the matter as to whether it is true or not. And I have tried as much as possible to be out of politics since my assumption,” he said in an interview with Citi News‘ Umaru Sanda Amadu on Wednesday.
He was interviewed on a number of issues including EOCO’s investigation of directors of the defunct financial institutions.
EOCO earlier in the week froze bank accounts and landed properties belonging to a member of the Council of State Member and founder of defunct Ideal Finance, Nii Kotei Dzani.
COP Rtd Adu-Poku told Umaru Sanda that though EOCO is a government agency, its staff execute their work professionally without any political lens.
“Financial economic crime has no political colours, so if you come and sit here and you believe that you can only achieve your aim if you belong to a political party or not, you will not succeed,” he said.
He also debunked claims that his office tracked the assets and accounts owned by Nii Kotei Dzani because of his affiliation to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
“I didn’t know that he is NDC. This is the first time I am hearing that. I know that he is a Council of State member and Director and Founder of Ideal Finance. And we were not going after political parties or members of any political parties. We were going after Directors who have misused public money. So, if he was a member of any political party, that was not what we were doing,” he noted.
EOCO freezes assets of Ideal Finance
EOCO has frozen some 31 accounts and some landed property of Nii Kotei Dzani, as part of efforts to among other things retrieve funds from him to settle customers whose funds are locked up with the defunct company.
Upon a referral from the Receiver for Ideal Finance, EOCO invited Nii Kotei Dzani for questioning on three allegations; including GHc 23 million paid to a client, 200 acres of land he allegedly stole from Ideal Finance, and unlawful use of Ideal Finance’s funds to build ‘Camp Tsaetse’, a plush resort in Ada.
Ideal Finance is among the 23 savings and loans and finance houses that lost their licenses after they were declared insolvent by the Bank of Ghana as part of a massive financial sector clean-up.