A police commander who rejected a bribe from some bail negotiators and suffered persecution after he criticised a senior state attorney for reportedly taking bribes to protect accused persons against trial has been promoted.
An investigative documentary film produced by a journalist with Accra-based Starr FM Edward Adeti in 2019 detailed how Chief Superintendent Samuel Tibil Punobyin, who was the Bolgatanga Divisional Police Commander at the time, rejected a bribe that was offered in dollars by the negotiators in the Upper East Region.
The film also narrated how the commander landed in trouble for claiming without evidence that the senior state attorney, Emmanuel Lawrence Otoo-Boison, was twisting the arm of the law for personal gains. Several other residents of the region also had complained about the conduct of the senior state attorney, as shown in the film.
Although the international award-winning documentary was produced to throw light on some injustices in Ghana’s justice structure and to help restore the trust the public had lost in the system, the investigative findings in the film exonerated Punobyin and the other concerned residents as Otoo-Boison was implicated in the fact-finding piece.
Otoo-Boison is captured in the film demanding a pregnant goat, receiving cash and later asking for more cash from a supposed relative of an accused person whom he was prosecuting at a High Court in Bolgatanga for alleged rape.
The senior state attorney also advised the accused person, who was also on the wanted list of the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) for some crimes he committed in Burkina Faso, to go into hiding immediately after he was granted court bail.
The government interdicted and dismissed Otoo-Boison after the investigative piece was aired and published.
His dismissal was recommended by a committee chaired by a Supreme Court judge, Justice Jones Dotse.
A number of prominent figures applauded C/Supt Punobyin for his courage and professional conduct, among them a renowned security analyst Dr Adam Bonaa who remarked that the senior police officer deserved promotion.
His promotion did not come immediately. He was transferred to the Western Region to head the Axim Divisional Police Command.
He was subsequently elevated as the Director of Economic Crime Unit at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters in Accra and now has been promoted to Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP).