This ultimatum was\u00a0 agreed upon after officials of the investigative body stormed her office to prevent her from <\/b>occupying<\/b>\u00a0it<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n But even before the 14-day period elapses, the Daily Guide newspaper in its January 23, 2018 edition, reported that some documents available to it from the Attorney General\u2019s Department suggest that the affected officers including Opoku Amankwa have been cleared of any malfeasance.<\/p>\n According to the newspaper, \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Daily Guide further suggested that Georgina Opoku-Amankwaah and the other directors being investigated were allegedly being hounded by EOCO on the instruction of the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei.<\/p>\n But EOCO in its statement said the claims by the Paper are untrue.<\/p>\n \u201c…the attribution that \u2018EC Chairperson is said to be manipulating EOCO\u2019 is blatant falsehood and needs to be condemned. The general public is invited to disregard the said publication,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n The statement however fell short of addressing the newspaper’s claim of a report from the Attorney General’s Department.<\/p>\n Below the brief statement from EOCO:<\/strong><\/p>\n PRESS RELEASE<\/strong><\/p>\n ECONOMIC AND ORGANISED CRIME OFFICE- EOCO<\/strong><\/p>\n The attention of the authority at the EOCO has been drawn to the banner headline of the 23rd<\/sup> January 2018 Edition of the Daily Guide Newspaper that \u201cEOCO Clears EC Top Officers\u201d.<\/p>\n We wish to emphatically and categorically state that no such clearance has been issued by this Office to any of the Officers of the Electoral Commission.<\/p>\n Secondly, the attribution that \u201cEC Chairperson is said to be manipulating EOCO\u201d is blatant falsehood and needs to be condemned. The general public is invited to disregard the said publication.<\/p>\n EOCO will issue a statement on this matter.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n SGD<\/p>\n ACP K.K. AMOAH (RTD)<\/p>\n EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR<\/p>\n DATED – 23RD<\/sup> JANUARY, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Background<\/strong><\/p>\n In September 2017, EOCO confirmed that the money which went missing from the Electoral Commission (EC)\u2019s Endowment Fund\u00a0did not end up in the accounts\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>of the officials of the EC under investigation.<\/p>\n However, the Executive Director of EOCO, K. K. Amoah, insisted that it was too early to conclude that the officials are innocent, given the mandate and access they had to the funds during the period.<\/p>\n EOCO commenced investigations into the activities of three officials of the EC; Georgina Opoku Amankwah, Chief Accountant, Kwaku Owusu Agyei-Larbi and Finance Officer, Joseph Kwaku Asamoah, after over 480,000 cedis went missing, resulting in the officials being asked to proceed on leave.<\/p>\n Speaking to Accra-based Peace FM, the Executive Director of EOCO, K. K. Amoah, stated that, investigations were far advanced into the matter, and that they were going to submit their findings to the Attorney General, which has since been done.<\/p>\n According to him, there have been claims that the money from the Endowment Fund was used for some projects for the EC, but he said no documents have been provided to prove this claim.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been suggested that the money was used for some work for the EC. If that\u2019s the case, they should bring receipts and documents to prove it. We haven\u2019t got any such documents from them. Without those documents, we\u2019ll continue to pursue them. With time, we will pass the information on to the Attorney General to pursue the matter in court.\u201d<\/p>\n K. K. Amoah also clarified that the officials under investigation were still on leave and had not been interdicted.<\/p>\n \u2018Officials assisting investigations\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n The Head of Communications at the EC, Eric Kofi Dzakpasu, stated in July 2017 that, the three officials proceeded on leave in order to protect the integrity of investigations by EOCO.<\/p>\n A letter, written to the Chair of the EC, Charlotte Osei, dated July 4th, 2017 from EOCO, said \u201cthe suspects are assisting in investigations.\u201d<\/p>\n Charlotte Osei, 2 deputies facing C\u2019ttee in \u2018corruption\u2019 probe<\/strong><\/p>\n On December 19, 2017, the Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, formally constituted a\u00a0committee to investigate the Chairperson<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei, and her two deputies, over corruption allegations leveled against them, with a caution to the general public to desist from making demeaning comments about their work.<\/p>\n \u201cThe general public is hereby informed that, Her Ladyship the Chief Justice, Justice Sophia A.B. Akuffo, in accordance with Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution, has set up a five-member committee to investigate allegations brought against the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs. Charlotte Osei, and her two deputies, Mr. Amadu Sulley and Mrs. Georgina Opopu-Amankwa.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement signed by the Judicial Secretary, Justice Alex B. Poku-Acheampong, the Chief Justice said anyone who makes comments that undermine the work of the Committee, will be cited for contempt.<\/p>\n In a release copied to\u00a0citifmonline.com<\/strong>, the Judicial Secretary,\u00a0 said the sittings of the Committee will be closed to the public.<\/p>\n The release, which failed to indicate the names of the Committee members, as well as state exactly when the Committee will start its work, said it will be chaired by a Justice of the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n From R (Amadu Sulley, Charlotte Osei and Opoku Amankwa).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Petitions<\/strong><\/p>\n Some staff of the EC petitioned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in July 2017, to remove Mrs. Osei from office over allegations of fraud and financial malfeasance as well as abuse of office.<\/p>\n Some of the allegations involved the unilateral award of contracts by the EC boss in the run-up to the 2016 general election. The unnamed EC staff are being represented by Lawyer Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang, against Mrs. Osei.<\/p>\n The petition against her, alleged among others the funneling of GH\u00a23.9 million to partition an office, the receipt of a Toyota Land Cruiser from the Mahama government, and the use of about $14 million when the Public Procurement Authority had authorized her to use only $7.5 million.<\/p>\n Charlotte Osei takes on Deputies<\/strong><\/p>\n Mrs. Osei also responded by making\u00a0allegations of corruption<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0against her deputies, claiming that she was only being hounded because she sought to introduce systems to curb misuse and mismanagement of resources.<\/p>\n Charlotte Osei among other claims, accused deputy Chairperson of the Commission of\u00a0illegally signing contracts\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>worth over GHC 40 million without her approval.<\/p>\n Fresh impeachment against EC Chair<\/strong><\/p>\n Subsequently, another individual by name Douglas Seidu, a concerned Ghanaian, also petitioned the President in August 2017, seeking the removal of the EC Chair, on grounds of \u201cfinancial misconduct, incompetence, conflict of interest, breaches of the public procurement processes, amongst others.<\/p>\n It is an eight-paged petition\u201d according to the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, who spoke to\u00a0Citi News<\/strong>\u00a0in August.<\/p>\n President Akufo-Addo in accordance with the constitution forwarded both petitions to the Chief Justice to look into the matter.<\/p>\n Suggestions are that both petitions have been consolidated to make the Committee\u2019s work easier.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana![\"\"](\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/3-3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nFollow @AlloteyGodwin<\/a>
\n