Business News of Thursday, 3 March 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-03-03Attorney-General charges EOCO to go after multi-national firms evading tax
Attorney-General, Godfred Dame with Members of EOCO Board
Attorney-General inaugurates new governing EOCO Board
Stephen Raymond Dapaa-Addo chairs EOCO Board
Make EOCO efficient by boosting revenue generation – A-G tasks
Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Dame, has charged the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) not to relent on going after multi-national companies that evade tax in the country.
According to him, the EOCO
Read full article.has somewhat over the years defaulted in its role when it comes to recovery of crime proceeds in a timely manner.
Speaking at the inauguration of the governing board of EOCO on Wednesday, March 2, 2022 Godfred Dame charged members to deliver on its mandate in order to ensure the Office becomes a revenue-generating one for the government.
“On my working visit to the offices of EOCO recently, I felt constraint to make the remark about the relatively low record of money it had recovered from the proceeds of crime," he said.
“It is undesirable for perpetrators of economic crime to conceal or keep the fruits of the crimes against the people of Ghana. Such a situation breeds mistrust in the system and rubs the nation of the much-needed revenue for the executive of lofty development projects,” the A-G said.
He continued, “In my respectful view, the mandate to recover proceeds of crime is one that places EOCO squarely in the position to contribute to the national purse by being a major generator of revenue.”
“I implore the new board to formulate policies and superintend the affairs of the organization in the manner so as to efficiently boost its recovery of proceeds or crime,” Godfred Dame urged.
New EOCO Board
The governing Board of the Economic and Organised Crime Office has been inaugurated on March 2, 2022.
The reconstitution of the Board is in line with Section 4 (2) of the Economic and Organised Crime Office Act, 2010 (Act 804).
The EOCO Board is chaired by Stephen Raymond Dapaa-Addo, former Executive Director of the Crime Office.
Others are; COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah; Inspector General of Police Rep. (Deputy Commissioner of Police), Ernest Kwabena Owusu; Narcotic Control Commission Rep. (Ag. Deputy Director-General).
The rest are; Kenneth Adu-Amanfoh; Attorney General Rep. (Deputy Attorney-General and Deputy Minister for Justice), Alfred Tuah-Yeboah; Ghana Revenue Authority Rep. (Deputy Commissioner, Ethics and Good Governance), Iddisah Seidu Esq., Ghana Revenue Authority Rep., Peter Kwasi Dadzie, Ghana Bar Association Rep., COP George Alex Mensah, Lt. Col. A. Serebour (Rtd.) Minister of National Security Rep. (Chief Director).
EOCO is specialised intelligence-led law enforcement agency established with the mandate to investigate crime under the authority of the Attorney General.
EOCO also leads with the prosecution of economic crime and other serious offences as well as the facilitation and confiscation of crime proceeds.
Some of the crimes include money laundering, human trafficking financial or economic loss to the Republic, State entity or institution of which the State has financial interest.
