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The Executive Director of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), Commissioner of Police (COP) Mrs Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, has said the development and implementation of sustainable strategies were critical to the fight against corruption and organised crime.
She said EOCO would develop such strategies that would include outlining key performance indicators (KPI) to measure the performance of the office to mitigate corruption and organised crime.

The effectiveness of the EOCO, she said, was to prevent and detect organised crime, and that such profile depended on the development of pragmatic and sustainable strategies to counter and mitigate economic and financial risks posed by the menace.

At the opening of a two-day conference for regional directors and unit heads of EOCO in Accra last Thursday, Mrs Addo-Danquah said officers of EOCO were tasked to prevent and detect organised crime and to facilitate the confiscation of the proceeds of crime.

The conference, dubbed: “Building effective relationship with stakeholders to achieve the mandate of the office”, would offer the management, regional directors and unit heads of EOCO the forum to reflect on a wide range of issues concerning EOCO, and to also determine the appropriate roadmap for the effective implementation of the core mandate of the organisation.

Amend Act

Organised crime, Mrs Addo-Danquah said, took an adverse toll on the public purse of every economy.

“This is further exacerbated by institutional corruption, which hinders economic development and affects short and long-term goals of development plans. Corruption leads to wastage of state resources, weakens its income streams and impairs the just distribution of these resources,” she said.

She urged the Attorney-General to expedite processes towards amending the EOCO Act to ensure better working conditions for the staff of the office.
 
She expressed her determination and commitment to ensure that the human and material resources of the organisation were improved in line with acceptable standards to enable personnel to effectively discharge their core mandate of monitoring and investigating economic and organised crime.

Commendation

The Deputy Attorney-General, Mr Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, said: “We have noted concerns about your conditions of service and attempt to amend the EOCO Act. We give you the assurance that the office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice will push for the amendment of this Act,” he said.

Mr Tuah-Yeboah commended personnel of EOCO for handling and taking up investigations in serious financial sector cases, including the famous MenzGold case.

“Weeks ago, we heard about an order that EOCO has secured an order to auction some of the properties of MenzGold for safekeeping until the determination of the matter involved, and we must commend you for the good job done,” he said.

“It is of outmost importance that we place high value on professionalism and dedication to the office of service. Dedication, integrity and hard work should be your hallmark; you must work independently, devoid of affection, hatred or political affiliation,” Mr Tuah-Yeboah said.