Baffour Awuah arrest: If they were worried about evidence, what happened since February? – Sulemana Braimah asks
by Gabs · MyNewsGh.comExecutive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah has questioned EOCO’s justification for seeking to keep Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah in custody for an extended period, particularly concerns that evidence connected to the investigation could be tampered with.
Braimah said he struggled to understand how evidence could suddenly become vulnerable after the authorities had allegedly been pursuing Baffour Awuah since February.
“Is it about evidence that will be tampered with?” Braimah asked during a discussion on JoyNews’ Newsfile.
He questioned where such evidence would even be located.
“That evidence, is it in his house? Is it in the law firm? Is it in his offices in Parliament?” he asked.
His argument was based on the fact that EOCO had said it had been seeking Baffour Awuah’s cooperation since February.
“If this guy knows that these people are pursuing me, wouldn’t those things have been tampered with already?” Braimah asked.
He therefore questioned why the risk of evidence being altered or destroyed should become a major concern only after the September confrontation.
“And it is these two days that we are saying, ‘Look, we want to keep him in and be able to do whatever investigations there are,’” he said.
Samson Lardy then brought the discussion back to the actual steps EOCO had taken.
“So Baffour will turn himself in on Thursday at 10 a.m.,” Lardy said.
He noted that EOCO subsequently carried out searches after obtaining the necessary authority.
Braimah acknowledged the development and noted that investigators had already searched Baffour Awuah’s office.
“They had gone to his offices, done a search, because the warrant they got included a warrant to search and seize,” he said.
He added that investigators had taken CCTV footage and other materials.
“They took away his CCTV, you know, footages and so on and so forth,” Braimah said.
The High Court has since authorised EOCO to search for and seize documents considered relevant to the investigation after the agency told the court it feared relevant material could be concealed, altered or destroyed.
Braimah’s concern was therefore not that investigators should be prevented from securing evidence, but whether the explanation for prolonged detention was convincing given the length of time the investigation had reportedly been ongoing.
He said the public should eventually be shown whether there were substantial matters beyond the issues already circulating.
“I’m not convinced until the evidence,” Braimah said.
He added that the full picture could only emerge once investigators disclosed whether there were other significant matters under investigation.
Source: MyNewsGh.com
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