General News of Thursday, 12 January 2012

Source: --

NPP will continue to oppose EOCO investigations

in Woyome saga- Nana Akomea

The New Patriotic Party Communication¹s Director Nana Akomeah, has set the records straight concerning assertions that the NPP was running away from the institution investigating the now infamous Woyome judgment debt payment, the Economic and Organised Crime Office, EOCO.

President John Evans Atta Mills directed EOCO to investigate circumstances that led to the payment of over GHS58 million judgment debt to a financier of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Alfred Agbesi Woyome.

But leading members of the NPP who were invited by the investigative body have sought a court action to block their appearance before EOCO.

Nana Akomea, at a press conference at the NPP¹s headquarters in Accra today said what the NPP will rather comply with is a public investigation, and not one to be done in-camera.

Nana Akomeah who is also the Member of Parliament for Okaikoi South said, while the NPP support the need for a probe, it members who need to appear before the EOCO will only cooperate with a public hearing.

According to him, President John Mills already prejudiced the work of the EOCO, when he said the office should only investigate the liability, saying the NPP believe all aspects of the matter ³from day one to the last day should be investigated².

³So if EOCO has been given the mandate to investigate just liability, we don¹t think it¹s worth our while¹, he stated.

He recommended the Public Account Committee of parliament PAC, which he said is made up of the majority NDC members of parliament, as a more credible investigation tool, as sittings will be held in public.

Nana Akomea asked why the NDC government would insist on an agency that is under the direction of the Attorney General¹s Department, saying, such investigations don¹t bring about credibility.

Meanwhile, Nana Akomea, has claimed the money paid to the NDC financier was GHc92 million and not Ghc58 million as is being reported.

³The NDC bankroller, Mr. Alfred Woyome¹s judgment debt payment is possibly the biggest financial scandal Ghana has ever witnessed in her political history,² he observed.

According to the NPP communications director, President Mills should have instructed the Economic and Organized Crime Office to conduct its preliminary investigations before making the payment.

Story by Christiana Aku Dzifa Dogbe/ Xfm 95.1/ Accra/ Ghana