Wontumi’s arrest: Anybody who says the public doesn’t deserve a statement from EOCO is wrong – Kpebu

3 News

Mon 02nd Jun, 2025 07:46

Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has said that the public deserves an official statement from the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) on why the arrest of the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako (Chairman Wontumi).

He argues that when persons who have huge followings are being handled in such a manner, it is only proper for the security agencies to issue a public statement stating why he has been arrested.

When his attention was drawn to the point that there are those who have argued that EOCO does not owe the public a statement on what they are doing, while speaking on TV3’s Key Point on Saturday, May 31, Martin Kpebu said “That is absolutely wrong. Governance runs on information; it is not anybody’s private property, then you don’t even know what you are about.

“Intelligence agencies give information, you manage it. What was brought out later by Dr Srem Sai was very late, especially as Mr Ryamond Archer (EOCO Boss) is a journalist and he should have known that society thrives on information free-flow… It is your sources and how you are gathering the evidence that you don’t put out.”

Chairman Wontumi was arrested by EOCO on May 27 without disclosing the reasons.

It was later in the day that his lawyer, Andy Appiah-Kubi informed journalists on the premises of EOCO that his client had been charged.

“They preferred some allegations against him, he refuted them. We have not finished with interrogation. We will come back tomorrow to continue if he gets well. They laid charges on the relationship between himself and EXIM Bank. We have also received a writ of summons from EXIM Bank and we will respond tomorrow,” Mr Appiah-Kubi further stated.

According to Mr Kpebu, EOCO’s silence on the reasons for Bernard Antwi-Boasiako’s arrest is what has led to persons associated with the NPP asserting that the bail condition is punitive.

“By now, EOCO should have told us why Wontumi is being charged. Raymond Archer is a journalist; he should know that lack of information in a case like this is not good. So, I will say that EOCO has not handled the process well,” Mr Kpebu said on the KeyPoints on May 31.

“I heard the former Vice President, Dr Bawumia crying that the bail condition is too much. I think he got the wrong advice. He should rather be asking for what he is being charged for,” Mr Kpebu added.

In the absence of information on a detailed facts of the case under investigation by EOCO, the Deputy Attorney-General, Dr Srem Sai has revealed that Chairman Wontumi is being investigated for money laundering and causing financial loss to the state, among others.

The suspect is also under a second strand of investigation which is part of a lager international organised crime scheme. The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) is assiduously working with our international law enforcement partners on this second strand of criminal investigations.”

The post Wontumi’s arrest: Anybody who says the public doesn’t deserve a statement from EOCO is wrong – Kpebu first appeared on 3News.