IGP ESCAPES ARREST

...Court Orders Police To Pay ¢139m

But for the benevolence of the High Court and some lawyers, new Inspector General of Police, Mr. Paul Quaye would have been languishing in jail by now for contempt.

Justice Lartey-Young, presiding over a contempt case brought against the Ghana Police said the IGP was a new person on the job and that if it were Mrs Mills-Robertson, he would not hesitate at all in committing her to prison.

The Greater Accra Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service had disobeyed a court order which asked them to release household items worth ¢139 million to Mrs Adjo Hodji.

The items included TV sets, fridge, mobile phone and a ceiling fan. They have been in police custody since 2005. When Mrs. Hodji acted on the court order to have the items released to her, the police told her that the items had gone missing. At the court hearing last Wednesday 20th May, 2009 on a motion of contempt, the judge ordered the police to pay for the full cost of the items.

The court further ordered the arrest of Inspector James Atta who was the principal actor in the retrieval of the items and their subsequent keeping in the exhibits room.

Commander of the Greater Accra Regional Police is also to be dealt with, per the guilty contempt ruling. The items in contention were retrieved from the residence of Prosper Donkor.

Prosper Donkor and another accused George Oppong collected ¢127million from Mrs. Celestine Adzo Hodji with the promise of giving her the dollar equivalent.

Both reneged on their promise. The police zoomed in and arrested them but George Oppong later escaped during the course of trial. The first accused told investigators that the money he took from Mrs. Hodji was used to buy some household items which were in his room.