Police no longer typically question government employees whose vast sums of money are lost or stolen – Dr Yaw Perbi

Founder and Global CEO of HuD Group, Dr Yaw Perbi has expressed concerns about the work of the Ghana Police Service concerning cases of stealing in the country involving politically exposed persons.

The medical doctor said the police’s swift action to investigate a person or individuals involved in a reported theft without questioning the source of the funds is worrying.

According to him, the police fail to investigate the complainants about the sums of money they claim to have been stolen.

Dr Perbi’s said not only must the police investigate the alleged thief but the complaint as well must be made to answer some questions.

His comment follows the case of $1 million which was reportedly stolen by the two house helps of the former Sanitation Minister Cecilia Abena Dapaah at her residence.

On the back of this, he said the police should have rather thought about why Mrs Dapaah had such huge sums of money stashed at her residence.

“I love how you said the police, for example, were looking at a case of stealing because as an ordinary citizen, one of the first things that came to mind was; oh, the police were reported to that over a million dollars have been stolen and they went after the house helps; it didn’t even cross their minds to question, why would an individual have a hundred million dollars in their home?’.

“That’s for me, the common citizen’s question but now what we’re saying is that well, legally the police were looking at somebody who has stolen somebody’s property,” he said on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday.

To this end, the Dr Perbi questioned whether it has become normal for the police not to investigate public servants who report monies stolen from them.

“It’s normal for the police that they’ve seen that public officers stash money? And one of my concerns is, I’m speaking as an ordinary citizen because during the currency crunch, US dollar crisis and attention, I was told by individuals of ministers who come and change millions of dollars or hundreds of thousands of dollars. I couldn’t believe it.

“Maybe I’m naive. So it’s in that some people know that it is quite normal that public officers will have lots of cash on them and indeed, we’ve seen cases where ministers and parliamentarians have lost money, they went to wash their car, somebody stole ¢25,000. It has become normal to the police so that it doesn’t raise a bell,” Dr Perbi quizzes.

Dr Perbi questioned why a public officer would have a huge sum of money stashed at her residence, saying the stolen $1 million raises public concern about whether the money was acquired legitimately.

He, however, asked whether it was legal for an individual to stash huge money at their homes.

“Why will a public officer have a million dollars whether it’s from their uncle, whether it’s with their brother, whether it’s from their mother at home and why will this not raise alarm bells to the public? Normally, people keep a million dollars on them?

“That is why I say that this is not just legality, there are issues of morality and ethics involved. There even are issues of optics. Just optics. When you are a public officer, you know, you are held up to a higher moral standard and ethical standard than everybody else,” he said.

source: myjoyonline.com