The Ghana Police Service has interdicted two officers for their inability to account for fake CFA 190,000 in their possession as exhibit.
A third officer involved in the missing fake currency has resigned from the service with the police taking steps to track him down.
This was made known by the Inspector General of Police, Dr George Akufo Dampare, in Accra yesterday when he appeared before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to respond to audit queries pertaining to the Service.
He explained that during a routine check by his men in Tarkwa in 2016, the police came into contact with four people in a vehicle and checks on them led to the discovery of foreign currencies; some dominated in dollars and CFA franc.
“When they analysed it instantly, with their instincts, they thought that there was something wrong with the currencies and couldn’t be genuine.
“So they picked them up and took them through the process of investigations and as a result, those values were sent to the CID headquarters and the right people to take a second look at the currencies to indicate whether they were genuine or not are the countries where this currencies are used.”
The US dollars, he said, were sent through the US Embassy to the authorities in America to help out determine the genuineness of the money.
“We followed up in July last year with a request asking them to give us information on it but since then, nothing has come. We followed up even this morning with a phone call from Interpol pleading with them that it is going to be a subject of discussion at the PAC and they assured us that they will get back to us on that matter. That is for the US dollars.”
In respect with the CFA, he said the arresting officers initially realised that it was CFA40,000 but in the course of investigation, the police found out that it was more than the 40,000. It was CFA190,000.
“That amount was brought to the CID headquarters and through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was sent to the Ivorian authorities to authenticate the genuineness or otherwise of same.
“The result and the accompanying appendix indicated that they were all fake and the money was sent back to the team at Tarkwa,” he told the Committee.
“Since then, there has been confusion as to who actually received it and the whereabouts of the money,” Dr Dampare said.
“When it came to our attention, we looked at the matter and identified three officers who were involved. Unfortunately, one of them has resigned from the service and efforts are being made to look for him to be held accountable.
“The other two, one in the Tarkwa enclave and the other in the Ahafo Region have all been interdicted and the matter has been referred to the Police Professional Standards Bureau to conduct investigation for us to know the whereabouts of the fake CFA190, 000 and anybody found culpable will be dealt with in accordance with law.”
On why a 2016 matter was yet to be determined, Dr Dampare said he was “embarrassed” by the delay and underscored the need for the police to be swift on matters like this.
“I think that some of these matters we shouldn’t allow them to linger on for that long. We will keep engaging the authorities for them to give us the feedback.
“We can assure you that we have learnt the relevant lessons from this case.”to stand next has from on of the document long-Billy ex-related been being crimes Advocate
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
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