The Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) and its Executive Director, COP Maame Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, have been threatened with legal action by the Chamber of Automobile Dealership Ghana (CHADG), however they have now backtracked on their threats.
The used car dealers had threatened to deal with the anti-crime organization for the seizure of some vehicles they thought to be stolen at the time they made the threat.
According to the dealers, they were furious at the time.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) worked together to conduct an intelligence-driven operation to recover various models of luxury vehicles from the nation.
According to EOCO, the recovered vehicles were thought to have been stolen from Canada and the United States of America (USA).
“On Friday December 9, 2022, thirty-seven (37) of such vehicles were retrieved from some garages in Accra during which ten (10) persons were arrested,” an EOCO statement said.
The Chamber of Automobile Dealership Ghana (CHADG) was prompted by the EOCO operation and accused the government agency of acting in bad faith and threatened to take legal action.
In contrast, General Secretary of the Chamber George Dumenu claimed in a press conference that the threats were made out of rage because he knows that battling EOCO on the matter will be ineffective.
“We were unhappy about how our vehicles were seized. No one will be happy if such a thing is done to him or her. That is why we reacted in that manner. We spoke out of anger, we cannot rub shoulders with government institutions like EOCO,” he said.
EOCO is a specialized agency established through the EOCO Act 2010 (Act 804) to monitor and investigate economic and organised crime and on the authority of the Attorney General prosecute offenders to recover the proceeds of crime.
As part of the functions of the Office, it co-operates with relevant foreign or international agencies in furtherance of its objectives.
