Government spokesperson Felix Kwakye Ofosu has revealed that close to ¢50 million belonging to the Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, has been frozen as part of ongoing investigations into suspected financial crimes.
Speaking on Joy News PM Express, the Abura Asebu-Kwamankese MP said the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has moved to secure large sums of money believed to be linked to ongoing probes.
“For instance, in Chairman Wontumi’s case alone, close to ¢50 million of money in his account has been frozen,” he stated.
Mr. Kwakye Ofosu added that similar financial amounts have been identified in other high-profile investigations, citing the cases of former Signals Bureau boss Adu Boahen, matters related to the National Service Secretariat, and several others.
He explained that these measures are part of a broader state effort to trace and secure assets linked to suspected corruption and financial misconduct.
“The current freeze is part of a larger number of assets that authorities have managed to secure so far. But for now, what they can do is to freeze it, and they have done it, ¢1.5 billion,” he said.
According to the government spokesperson, the freezes are temporary and contingent on legal proceedings. Assets cannot be recovered outright until courts determine that they were obtained illegally.
“They are not going to be able to recover until the persons involved have been convicted by a court that then will give you an illegal remit to recover whatever it is that is alleged to have—or the court would have found to have been stolen,” he clarified.
Mr. Kwakye Ofosu also addressed earlier public discussions regarding comments by President John Mahama about money recovered by EOCO. He noted that the ¢600 million figure cited by the President referred to routine investigations handled by EOCO.
“That was in respect of the normal everyday cases that the EOCO handles,” he explained, adding that EOCO deals with a broad spectrum of financial and organised crimes, including money laundering, cybercrime, cross-border crime, and carjacking.
However, the investigations currently under public scrutiny involve suspected corruption and financial crimes that require legal processes before recovery can occur. Authorities are also continuing efforts to identify additional assets linked to ongoing cases.
“This is even for the cases that they’ve been able to touch, those that they’ve not touched. They are still in the process of tracing this asset,” he said.
Mr. Kwakye Ofosu emphasized that asset tracing is a standard part of criminal investigations involving financial crimes, aimed at securing suspected proceeds of crime before cases are concluded.
“So that as much as possible we secure what we believe will be commenced with to the amounts involved in offences that would have been completed,” he added.
Source:
oyerepafmonline.com