The Police in Techiman have been accused of festering a culture of bribery with allegations rife that the police are openly extorting money from suspects for bail.
They have been allegations that the police in Techiman have been on the rampage raiding all kinds of businesses especially those owned by the youth and thereafter demand huge amounts of money for bail depending on the severity of the accusation.
According to sources in Techiman, one such case involves an officer of the Wenchi Division of the Police from which the Techiman Police was carved.
The sources allege that the officer, one Sergeant S. K. Wotordzor Saviour formerly with Wenchi Division as Divisional Crime Officer allegedly supervised the sale of Four Hundred and Forty-one (441) motorbikes left in his custody as exhibits and squandered the proceeds.
The Wenchi Division had taken custody of the 441 motorbikes when one Meto Emile, the General Manager of STE Evame Srl Motors, a Togo-based company with branches in Ghana had complained to the Wenchi Divisional Command over discrepancies in the records of its agent Jacob Adongo.
At the end of the audit conducted by Sergeant S.K. Wotordzor in the presence of Jacob Adongo, the accused’s agent; Jeff Agbeko the company’s accountant and Kwadwo Agyei, the man with Power of Attorney, had certified that in all 441 motorbikes were identified and same locked under key and the keys left under the care of Techiman Division for further investigations.
But Sergeant S.K Wotordzor is alleged to have superintended over the sale of the motorbikes under the Division’s custody without the consent of Kwadwo Adjei the one who is clothed with power of attorney to pursue the case on behalf of (Meto Emile) the complainant, and contrary to the advice by the Attorney General’s Office.
A Senior State Attorney at the Attorney General’s Office in Brong-Ahafo Region in a letter dated 28 October, 2015 advised the Wenchi Division to Charge the suspect (Jacob Adongo) with the offense of conspiracy to commit crime which is fraudulent breach of trust contrary to section 128 of the criminal offences Act 1960, Act 29 and forward copies of same to this office to enable prosecution; the advice was signed by Theophilus Appoh, Senior State Attorney and copied the Deputy Commissioner of Police Sunyani .
Investigations by mynewsgh.com revealed that the police may have actually sold 420 of the total of 441 motorbikes leaving twenty-one (21) bikes and spare parts with the Techiman Division, but has since refused to release the 21 bikes to the holder of Power of Attorney, Kwadwo Agyei.
Not a written request by Kwadwo Agyei would let the police release the remaining bikes which have been in their custody since 2015.
A further check by this paper at the Attorney General’ Office in Accra shows that there was never a case such as this brought to its attention.
K Wotordzor in a telephone conversation with mynesgh.com denied the sale of the bikes. He said the case was reassigned. However, mynewsgh.com can report authoritatively that the facts of the case presented to the Attorney General’s Office in Brong-Ahafo strongly indicate that the 441 bikes may have been sold under the supervision of Wotordzor.
As if their highly unethical and ruthlessness was not embarrassing enough to the Police Service, the Techiman Police and their head, Superintendent Emmanuel Twumasi Ankrah looked on helplessly while a suspected drug dealer hopped from radio station to another indicting the police in the location for aiding crime.
Speaking in a radio interview on a radio station in Techiman, the suspect claimed that he and his group had been taking ‘good care’ of Supt. Twumasi Ankrah and his men.
He alleged paying the police a sum of Five Thousand Eight Hundred Cedis GHC5,800 monthly. The suspect reportedly stated that the Techiman Police was only capable of arresting those who did not know how to pay their ways out.
To the chagrin of Ghanaians, Supt. Emmanuel Twumasi Ankrah of Techiman Divisional Command corroborated the claim by the suspect when he told the press that the police cannot go after the suspect merely because of what he alleges to be doing on Radio. “The Techiman Police can’t go looking for him because he sat on radio to boast of something,” he said in a telephone conversation on radio.
Some residents of Techiman are of the view that the reaction of the police capo gives credence to what the suspected drug dealer claimed in the radio interview.
A legal Practitioner from Techiman, who spoke to mynewsgh.com on condition of anonymity, said the spate of extortion, oppression, injustice and inhuman tendencies by the Techiman Police requires urgent attention of the Inspector General of Police.
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