Lawyer for Commissioner of Police (COP) George Alex Mensah, has described the decision by the Ghana Police Service to interdict his client as surprising.
According to Kweku Owusu Agyemang, no form of invitation was extended to the COP to indicate an ongoing investigation or internal inquiry into the revelations made by various witnesses before the parliamentary committee probing the alleged leaked tape on which persons were plotting the ouster of the Inspector General of Police.
Speaking to JoyNews following news of the interdiction, Lawyer Owusu Agyemang said he will be meeting with COP George Alex Mensah to strategise on the way forward.
“He was served the letter of interdiction yesterday, in the evening, and we have just been served with a copy of the letter as his lawyer and we are looking at it for him.
“According to the letter of interdiction it is in respect of the parliamentary committee’s work on the leaked tape.
“But no form of invitation was extended by the Ghana Police Service and that is quite surprising. It was sent through a junior officer to my client so that is how we were served.”
The comments follow a press release from the Ghana Police Service announcing the interdiction of three senior officers for their involvement in a contentious audio recording containing an alleged plot to oust the IGP.
In the statement signed and issued by the Director of Police Public Affairs, ACP Grace Ansah-Akrofi, the three officers, namely Commissioner of Police (COP) Mr. George Alex Mensah, Superintendent Mr. Emmanuel Eric Gyebi, and Superintendent Mr. George Lysander Asare, have been placed on interdiction while further disciplinary procedures are pursued in compliance with Police Service regulation.
Reacting to this, Lawyer Owusu Agyemang said COP George Alex Mensah remains unperturbed about the decision.
He stressed that, the team will soon make public their reaction to the interdiction.
“My client is fine. He is not in the Service. He has been on leave toward his retirement for about 4 months now, so he is fine. He is very convinced that he can go through this phase of his life,” he added.
On his part, Alfred Paapa Darkwa who is the lawyer for Sup. George Asare insists the interdiction is not only problematic but contemptuous.
He explained that witnesses before Parliament are immune and therefore the Police Service cannot take action.
“It is quite surprising because Parliament is conducting an investigation into the leaked tape and usually when witnesses appear before Parliament they are immune from any action but for the Police Administration to use the same Parliament as the reasons for their interdiction is a bit problematic. Some may even argue that it could even be contempt of parliament.”
He told JoyNews that his client is yet to be served with the interdiction letter.
“We got wind of it last night. He has not been given any documents suggesting that he has been interdicted. What I can say is that we have seen it on social media and a publication by the Police indicating that he has been interdicted but as we speak he has not been given any document confirming same,” he said.
Meanwhile, former Director General of the Police Criminal Investigations Department, Rtd COP Bright Oduro says the action by the Service is premature.
“I don’t know if it is the IGP or the Police Council that instructed the IGP to interdict the officers but if it is coming from the IGP then I think it is premature.
“He should have allowed this investigation to continue and then we see the outcome and if after that the officers had misconducted themselves somehow, then he would have called for a service enquiry.
“But where I sit, I don’t see any criminality in what they did, what one can say is that they misconducted themselves but even that, it must be purely after investigation.”
Rtd. COP Bright Oduro added that “allegations have been made about the Police Service and in particular the IGP which are being looked into, so if these are true then where do we stand by interdicting him?
“So, I would have preferred that we conclude investigation and the police administration takes a different line of action.”