Miracles Aboagye Denies GH¢55m Scandal, Says EOCO Questioned Him Over Much Smaller Sums

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Dennis Miracles Aboagye, Communications Director at the Office of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Flagbearer, has denied allegations of a GH¢55m scandal related to his tenure at the Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee on Decentralisation (IMCCoD). He insists that Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) investigators are questioning him over much smaller sums, including GH¢9m, GH¢5.2m, and GH¢5,000.

Addressing the controversy on Asempa FM’s Ekosiisen programme on Tuesday, July 21, Mr Aboagye clarified that the amounts circulating publicly do not reflect the issues raised by investigators. “I am being questioned over about GH¢9 million, not the GH¢55 million amount circulating in the public domain,” he stated.

According to him, the original concerns related to approximately GH¢9 million and GH¢5,000, but alleged that the amount was subsequently revised upward during the investigative process. “It was GH¢9 million and GH¢5,000.” Mr Aboagye expressed his disappointment with the inconsistencies in the figures attributed to the investigation, calling them a threat to public confidence in state institutions.

The IMCCoD never controlled an amount as large as GH¢55 million, Mr Aboagye pointed out, calling the allegations baseless. He attributed the origin of the widely reported GH¢55 million figure to the “strange circumstances” of the investigative process. “Yet, miraculously, under some strange circumstances, EOCO, even writing on the back of the petition from the IMCC, still inflated this GH¢9 million to GH¢20 million.”

EOCO has not publicly responded to Mr Aboagye’s claims, and the investigation into alleged financial improprieties linked to the IMCCoD continues to attract significant public and political attention.

GH¢5.2 million is the specific procurement-related issue under investigation, according to Mr Aboagye, who described it as a matter involving procurement procedures rather than missing funds. The procurement issue is part of a larger investigation into financial improprieties linked to the IMCCoD. The IMCCoD is an inter-ministerial committee established to oversee the decentralisation process in Ghana. The committee's role is to coordinate the implementation of decentralisation policies and ensure the effective transfer of powers and resources from central to local authorities. The EOCO investigation into the IMCCoD is one of several ongoing probes into financial improprieties involving former public officials in Ghana. The IMCCoD played a crucial role in Ghana's decentralisation process, which aimed to transfer power and resources from central to local authorities.