A Private Legal Practitioner who doubles as Counsel for embattled senior Police Officer, ACP Dr. Benjamin Agordzor, Lawyer Martin Kpebu has explained that the Public Accounts Committee rushed to arrest the Finance Officers of the Sefwi Akontombra District Assemblies.
According to him, they should have exercised restraint and asked the police to take the matter up after it was discovered they lied to the committee.
Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' program, he added that though the committee has the powers of a High Court, they should have asked the Police to take the matter up rather than ordering their arrest and detention.
"They should not forget that their powers, however, are not absolute," he clarified.
"They can only ask the police through the recommendation of the committee to prosecute the officers if indeed they lied."
Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), James Klutse Avedzi ordered the arrest of the current and former Finance Officers from the Sefwi Akontombra District Assembly.
Isaac Akowuah and James Essilfie, who were sent to the Parliament Police Station, were accused of attempting to deceive the Committee during a hearing on Monday.
The Chairman of the Committee was unimpressed with what he believed was a deliberate attempt by the Finance Officers to keep some payment vouchers from them and found that the two were in contempt of the Committee.
Mr. Avedzi also noted that most of the payment vouchers that were eventually submitted to the Committee did not correspond with the current receipts and had different reasons stated for spending, following a check.
Although the two Finance Officers tried to explain the reason behind the mix-up, the Chairman asked for them to be whisked away for interrogation by the Police.
Listen to him in the video below
Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]
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what is the difference between taking a matter up and handing people over to the police. We should begin to stop the pampering of ***barred word*** and rogues who are ruining the nation and enriching themselves.