COP Maame Tiwa, Shaibu Haruna signing the MOU
The Executive Director of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Danquah, has set the precedent that no fraudulent and crime-related activities in the country will go unpunished under her tenure.
According to her, the leadership of the Economic and Organised Crime Office and stakeholders including the Police Service and other agencies have designed plans and strategies to combat fraudulent activities perpetuated in the country.
This collaborative partnership among many others, aims to combat fraud-related crimes. It also aims to enhance capacity through skills training development for personnel and develop a public awareness programme to bring the public up to speed with crime preventive measures.
“As a result of the changing dynamics of crime perpetuated by these fraudsters, EOCO has launched five years’ strategic plans which seek to curb their activities,” she said.
The five-year development plan, according to EOCO, is a roadmap to secure citizens’ economic well-being. The strategic plan aims to disrupt criminal activities and deny criminals the enjoyment of the proceeds of crime. It will partner with local and international law enforcement agencies, development partners, and civil society and develop the office to be operationally resilient and sustainable.
In the wake of combating the ever-increasing fraud-related crime cases recorded in the country, EOCO revealed that it has been working closely with Mobile Money Limited, and banks, leading to the arrest of offenders who subsequently got convicted for their acts.
“This collaboration should send a signal to everyone that fraudulent crime is not something you can do and get away with. These collaborations will help us stay ahead of the competition,” she explained.
COP Maame Tiwa made these assertions at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with MTN Ghana yesterday in Accra.
She further stated that as part of the collaboration, MTN Ghana will help EOCO develop content that is appropriate for the type of investigation that needs to be conducted.
“We will also involve the Police Service in our training programmes so that together we can build an investigative team which will be well informed, well knowledgeable, competent, and positioned in such a way that some of these crimes irrespective of the location can be traced for the necessary prosecution,” she added.
Addressing allegations on MTN MoMo officials engaged in fraudulent acts, Chief Executive Officer, MTN Mobile Money Limited (MML), Shaibu Haruna, disclosed that upon investigations it was discovered that even within the network agent communities that operate with the MTN Mobile Money Limited, some provide information either deliberately or inadvertently to the criminals for their fraudulent acts.
“There is a lot of education that needs to happen across the chain. The collaboration with EOCO will strengthen the communication around fraud to ensure all our users are also aware,” he added.
BY Prince Fiifi Yorke