Accra, Jan. 7, GNA – Mr Hayford Boateng, a cocoa farmer from Enchi, has appealed to the Ghana Police Service to intervene for him to get his money back from two police escorts detailed to assist him recover his GH¢4,500.

He said this was an urgent request as he was currently stranded in Accra and penniless.

He said on October 22, 2011, he went and withdrew the said amount from his bankers at Enchi and on his return to Accra on reaching Nsawam the boot of the vehicle in which he was traveling opened and somebody picked the bag with the money and fled with it.

Mr Boateng said the next day he went to the area where the incident occurred and a witness identified the person who took the bag with the money and reported the matter at the Nsawam Police Station.

He said the Station detailed Mr Asem and a colleague to arrest of the suspect and retrieve the money.

He said after the arrest of the suspect the bag and the money was given to Mr Asem to be sent to the Police Station but on their way Mr Asem asked the other officer to take the suspect to the Station while he (Asem) took the informant and the money to another place and later reported to the office.

At the station, Mr Asem claimed the only amount found in the bag was GH¢1,200 but the suspect quickly refuted this and said it was more than that and that “master it is plenty of money in the bag and more than what you are saying”.

Mr Boateng said when further probed, Mr Asem admitted before his superiors that he used his own discretion to give GH¢500 to the informant.

Mr Boateng said due to the intransigence of Mr Asem and the difficulties being experienced at the Nsawam Police Station, he went further and reported the case to the Police Headquarters in Accra and it was there, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Barimah Acheampong detailed Mr Boye, a Police Officer from Accra to investigate the issue.

He said after the investigations, the two officers of the Nsawam Police were invited to the Police Headquarters and asked to refund the remaining GH¢3,300 to him.

Mr Boateng said after three months what the two officers are doing is that they have prepared a docket on the GH¢1,200 which Mr Asem claimed they found in the bag to prosecute the case in court.”

“I am using this opportunity to appeal to the Ghana Police Service and especially the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to expedite action on the matter to alleviate a poor cocoa farmer like me who has toiled only for greedy and corrupt policemen to circumvent the law and bring suffering untold hardship on me.”

When the GNA contacted Mr Asem, he said Mr Boateng was making a false allegation against him and that he had not taken any money but was rather assisting Mr Boateng to prosecute suspect in the case.

He said it was true he had been invited to the Police Headquarters and that he had written his statement on the case.