The Police administration is giving contradictory information on whether or not interdicted Commissioner of Police Patrick Timbillah was put under house arrest for his alleged involvement in the biggest police recruitment scandal that hit the country.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Cephas Arthur has said reports that Director General of Police Human Resource and Administration COP Patrick Timbillah was put under house arrest last Friday are not entirely accurate.
He said the embattled police officer was never put under house arrest and that he was only “interdicted” – meaning he was only restricted from undertaking his normal duties as a police officer.
While under interdiction he was not allowed to wear his police uniform or have access to anything belonging to the police administration, DSP Arthur said on Peace FM’s morning show ‘Kokrokoo’.
Some 200 young men and women who paid hefty sums of money to middle men in hopes of being recruited into the police service, last two weeks besieged five regional police training schools with fraudulent admission letters.
COP Patrick Timbillah was placed under home detention on Friday after some victims of the scam provided evidence linking him to the scandal.
Text messages intercepted by a special police taskforce set up to investigate the fraud showed a trail of conversation between the interdicted police chief and some victims of the fraud.
Director General of the Police Public Relations DCOP David Ampah-Benin in an exclusive interview with Joy News said Timbillah has been put under house arrest and would not interfere with subsequent investigation.
But DSP Cephas Arthur said the information must have been a miscommunication and that there was nothing like a house arrest.
He said the embattled police officer was only restricted from performing his usual duties after it came to light that he was part of the recruitment scam.
This was to enable the service undertake proper investigations into the issue without his interference, he added.
However, COP Dr George Akufo Dampari Director General in charge of Finance and Patrol at the police service told Joy FMs’ Super Morning Show host, Kojo Yanskon that the service noticed that putting COP Timbillah under house arrest was improper hence the decision to reverse the house arrest sanction.
He said no restriction has been placed on his movement except the police service; he is free to do whatever he wants to do as long as it does not interfere with investigations.
He explained the embattled police officer has been made aware of the seriousness of the issue to ensure that he is properly guided.
Two other police officers fingered in the act were also arrested and taken to the police station but have been granted bail, COP Dr Dampari said.
He was however unable to clarify who a GHȻ30, 000 account created at Spintex Branch of the Stanbic Bank belongs to.
Meanwhile, Security Expert Dr Kwesi Aning has said an independent commission of enquiry must be set up to investigate the issue, especially fraudulent ones concerning the police service.
He said it was only prudent for the democratic dispensation of the country that an independent institution be involved in the investigation process.
It is worrying for an institution like the police service which is supposed to be protecting people and ensuring the security of the nation to be involved in such a fraud, he said.
Dr Aning has called for a total restructuring of the service, adding that although the IGP is doing a great job he needs extra hands to deal with the problems his institution is plagued with.
He noted that it was important that in discussing the case some sense of sensitivity and caution to the individual and the police service should be exercised to ensure that the service is not run down in an attempt to find solution to the problems.
Every institution will have some of these problems but because the service is a frontline institution and the public deals with them daily it tends to be blown out of proportion, he said.
He said it will be appropriate for COP Timbillah to be given the benefit of doubt for a proper investigation to be properly conducted into the issue before he is pronounced guilty. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Naa Sakwaba Akwa | [email protected]
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