The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has confirmed the arrest of former Executive Secretary of the Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee on Decentralisation (IMCCoD), Dennis Edward Miracles Aboagye, over alleged financial and procurement irregularities involving approximately GH¢55 million in public funds.
In a statement issued on Monday, July 13, EOCO said the arrest followed investigations arising from a forensic audit of the IMCCoD Secretariat covering the period from August 2022 to February 2025.
According to the anti-graft agency, the investigations were initiated after the current Executive Secretary of the Secretariat petitioned EOCO to examine the audit findings. The office said the forensic audit and subsequent investigations, which began last year, uncovered evidence of the alleged misappropriation, misapplication, diversion and theft of public funds during the period under review.
EOCO said Mr Aboagye, together with the Secretariat’s former accountant, Gerald Appiah, and other unnamed individuals, is being investigated for alleged offences including conspiracy to steal, stealing, using public office for profit, causing financial loss to the state, dissipation of public funds, defrauding by false pretences and money laundering.
The office noted that Mr Aboagye had been aware of the investigations and had previously honoured invitations to assist investigators. However, it said fresh evidence that emerged last week necessitated his arrest.
EOCO further disclosed that it had placed Mr Aboagye on a stop order about a week earlier to prevent him from leaving the country while investigations continued. It said investigators were unaware that he had already travelled outside Ghana before the order was issued.
According to the statement, officers of the Ghana Immigration Service intercepted Mr Aboagye upon his arrival at Kotoka International Airport on Saturday, July 11, and handed him over to EOCO the following morning.
The office said Mr Aboagye subsequently accompanied investigators on a search operation on Sunday, July 12, with the exercise expected to continue.
Regarding the former accountant, Gerald Appiah, EOCO said he had voluntarily begun refunding monies linked to the alleged offences. It stressed, however, that the repayments neither conclude the investigations nor absolve any suspect of potential criminal liability.
EOCO stated that both suspects would be granted bail in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of Ghana. It said Mr Appiah was expected to satisfy his bail conditions and be released while investigations continue, while arrangements were also being made to process Mr Aboagye’s bail.
The anti-graft agency assured the public that the investigations would be conducted professionally, fairly and in accordance with the law, while respecting the constitutional rights of all persons involved. It added that further updates would be provided as the case progresses.
Meanwhile, some members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) gathered outside EOCO’s headquarters in Accra to demand that Mr Aboagye’s lawyers be granted access to him and to call for his immediate release from custody.
