My attention has been drawn to videos authored by one Kevin Ekow Taylor on his platform “With All Due Respect,” making certain wild, baseless and defamatory allegations against me.
The falsehoods start with the allegation that the respected lawyer Ace Anan Ankomah is my nephew. That’s an absolute lie. There is neither family nor blood relations between us, except that we are from the same town. Lawyer Ankomah never referred any case, including that of Horizon to me or EOCO during my stewardship.
To my recollection, on or about 16th February 2018, one Charles Darko was arrested for money laundering following a report from the Financial Intelligence Centre, which, contrary to Kevin Taylor’s falsehoods, is an independent statutory body and not a part of EOCO. FIC had frozen the account into which certain monies had been received. Although Charles Darko claimed that the money he had received was from a company called Just Gold to purchase houses from him, we were not convinced and therefore charged him with money laundering and tax evasion. The High Court convicted him of tax evasion but acquitted him of money laundering because, as the court held, there was no predicate offence. Upon his acquittal he applied to the court to remove the FIC’s freezing order over his account.
I must emphasise that no $600,000 or any part of it was paid to me. I am also not aware that any such payment was made to anyone in EOCO. Also, the allegation that it was EOCO that introduced Charles Darko to lawyer Augustine Obuor is false. Indeed in the course of our investigations it emerged that lawyer Obuor had been Charles Darko’s lawyer for several years before that arrest. Further, that arrest and prosecution had nothing to do with NAM 1 or Menzgold. There was no connection between them at that time. And the name “Horizon” did not even come up in the course of that matter.
Meanwhile, after about three meetings held between Bank of Ghana and EOCO at EOCO head office during which the Bank of Ghana complained about the activities of certain companies including Menzgold for taking deposits without licence, EOCO commenced investigations into those companies. On or about 10th August 2018, EOCO arrested NAM 1 and about four other people for operating deposit-taking businesses without a licence. It is therefore also false that the Bank of Ghana did not take any action against NAM 1. Bank of Ghana’s report submitted to us on these activities showed that the Bank had met with and cautioned NAM 1 several times, both verbally and in writing, to cease and desist from the operations but that he had simply ignored the central bank.
Indeed the Bank of Ghana had started cautioning NAM 1 and Menzgold between 2014 and 2017 about the illegal nature of the business he was doing. In fact, in or about March 2015, the Bank of Ghana issued a notice that listed unlicensed entities operating illegally, including NAM 1’s business. It was those actions and cautions that led to Menzgold changing its name from Menzbank to Menzbanc and then to Menzgold, in an attempt to dodge the licensing requirement for taking deposits.
We noted that from these interactions, that NAM 1 always had the option to apply to either the Bank of Ghana or the Security and Exchange Commission for a licence, but he never did. Rather he applied for and obtained a gold trading licence which he now used as a cover to disguise his deposit-taking business. We also noted that he had ignored a 19th September 2017 letter from the Minerals Commission that warned him that his operations were in breach of the law and the licence he had obtained.
Since the offence we charged NAM 1 with, which was operating a deposit-taking business without a licence was a misdemeanour, he was granted self-recognizance bail for him to report regularly to the office. He reported to EOCO about seven times to assist in investigations. But on or about 15th September 2018, he failed to report, in breach of the terms of his bail. Significantly this was around the time that the Security and Exchange Commission wrote to him to suspend taking any fresh deposits from customers.
However, NAM 1 called the case officer and claimed that some persons had stolen his gold from Tarkwa and taken it to Cote d’Ivoire and that he was chasing that matter. When we did not hear from him again for a while, we were compelled to go to court for a warrant for his arrest. We started tracking him with intelligence information about possible sightings in Nigeria, Spain and the United Kingdom. It was when we were still tracking him that he called the case officer again, this time to say that he had been arrested and detained in Dubai, giving us details of the police station at which he was detained.
My office wanted to confirm this information and so contacted National Security, which after investigations confirmed that he was indeed in Dubai and under arrest. It was after this that a government delegation of two ministers travelled to Dubai to meet NAM 1 and the authorities there. Upon their return, they reported that NAM 1 had been arrested on the basis of an allegation by a company called “Horizon” in Dubai, which claimed that they had been defrauded in Ghana by one Adewoye (Ade) and that NAM 1 was the person who introduced them to the said Ade. The report also mentioned Charles Darko’s name. We began investigations and arrested Charles Darko, who denied any connection with the matter.
This was the state of affairs when I left EOCO. I am aware that the matter is still under CID investigation, that there is a warrant for the arrest of the person called Ade, and that Charles Darko has been arrested, granted bail, and been reporting to the CID.
These facts show that Kevin Taylor simply lied. He pieced together bits of information, several of which were already in the public domain, and laced them with falsehood, propaganda and defamatory matters just to tarnish my reputation and that of others. It is false that I colluded with lawyer Ankomah and/or Gabby Otchere-Darko to subvert the law or engage in any fraudulent or unethical conduct.
I have accordingly referred this matter to lawyers and will take it up against Kevin Taylor to the fullest extent permissible by law.
Post a Comment