Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has demanded the resignation of the Executive Director of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, over the mishandling of investigation of former Sanitation Minister, Cecilia Dapaah.

Kpebu criticized the absence of EOCO during the return of funds by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to Dapaah, suggesting negligence or mismanagement.

He highlighted that the OSP's public announcement of its intention to return the money and transfer the case file to EOCO made their absence at the handover to Dapaah particularly conspicuous.

This call for resignation follows advice from the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice against EOCO initiating a money laundering probe into Dapaah's case.

The Attorney General's office, in a letter dated April 25, 2024, indicated that the OSP failed to submit its collaborative investigation report with the FBI to EOCO and did not respond to EOCO's request for findings from its investigation.

The Attorney General's office noted that the docket provided to EOCO lacked comprehensive details, containing only the OSP's letter transmitting the docket, the diary of action, statements from the investigation, and correspondence with other institutions.

Speaking on Joy FM's Midday News, Kpebu argued that such oversights erode the credibility of the investigation and cast doubt on EOCO's ability and commitment to pursuing the case. He firmly stated that Maame Tiwaa should resign without excuses, emphasizing the gravity of the situation.

“EOCO's Maame Tiwaa Addo Danquah should be on her way out of that office...she should be out and let us not play with it. This thing is too elementary for us to tolerate this. Kissi Agyebeng came out publicly to say 'I am handing over this file, I am handing over the cash.'

"So EOCO should have been present to collect that money. There can be no excuses...there can be no 'ifs' and 'buts' about it, that is why we are calling on Maame Tiwaa to resign,” he stated.

Echoing Kpebu's sentiments, anti-corruption advocate Vitus Azeem expressed disappointment with the Attorney General's advice to EOCO.

He contended that the case should not have required the Attorney General's intervention and that EOCO could have disregarded the Special Prosecutor's referral.

Azeem also criticized the Special Prosecutor for not providing EOCO with all the necessary information, which the Attorney General used as a basis to deem any further investigation unwarranted.

He suggested that withholding information could imply either a subpar investigation or an unwillingness to allow EOCO to continue the case with the available evidence, a common issue in high-profile investigations involving multiple agencies.

GA/SARA

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