Atta Akyea fumes as Manhyia MP is to spend another night in EOCO custody

Lawyer for Manhyia South MP Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, Samuel Atta Akyea, has expressed disappointment over the continued detention of his client by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), saying the MP will spend another night in custody. Mr Akyea said this followed about five hours of interrogation during which the legal team was assured that EOCO would seek approval to grant the MP bail. “I have to bring to your attention that after about five hours of interrogation and them assuring us that they were going to seek approval to grant him bail, I’m highly disappointed that they have detained him one more time,” he said in an interview with JoyNews’ Collins Frimpong. The lawyer said he had been informed that a judge would sit on Saturday to consider bail for his client, but questioned why the matter required the involvement of a judge.

“I’m hearing some funny stories that tomorrow [Saturday] there will be a sitting judge to consider bail for my client. The question is, what has that got to do with the judge? ” he asked. He argued that the arrest warrant obtained by EOCO was different from a bench warrant and questioned the basis for taking the MP before a judge after he had voluntarily surrendered to the agency. “That is not a bench warrant. Take him back to the judge, for the judge to determine the fate of the individual. You never went to the court to seek a bench warrant. You wanted an arrest warrant. You wanted to arrest him, then they gave you the arrest warrant, and then my client voluntarily came over to you,” he said. Mr Akyea said the circumstances did not warrant keeping the MP in custody, arguing that he was a sitting Member of Parliament who had voluntarily presented himself to EOCO. “I believe that the rule of law and common decency should dawn on…