Atta Akyea cries foul after arrest

Legal mogul and New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Akim Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea, has accused the state apparatus of political witch-hunting, after being released on bail, following his arrest by the police on the premises of an Accra High Court yesterday.

Sources close to The Chronicle said Mr. Akyea's arrest was at the instance of the Attorney-General (A-G), following an alleged stealing case and a fraudulent breach of trust the A-G's department is investigating, in which the Akim Abuakwa MP is the prime suspect.

Eyewitnesses said the police, in the early hours of yesterday, ambushed the vociferous MP and lawyer at the premises of the High Court, and got Mr. Akyea arrested at around 11:00 a.m. when he was in the midst of close associates.

The Akim Abuakwa MP, according to the eyewitnesses, did not resist arrest, but quietly followed the CID personnel to the National Police Headquarters.

His lawyers, led by Yoni Kulendi, The Chronicle learnt, upon hearing of the arrest, immediately went to the police station to necessitate his bail. Mr. Atta Akyea is currently on a GH¢100,000 police enquiry bail.

In August, 2010, a renowned road and building construction firm, J. Adom Limited, accused its former Lawyer, Mr. Atta Akyea, of allegedly embezzling an amount of GH¢231,081 belonging to the firm.

The company, alarmed over this, according to its Managing Director (MD), Mr. Kwabena Arhin, decided to take legal action against the Akim Abuakwa South MP to redeem its money, and subsequently, lodged a complaint at the Commercial Crime Unit of the Ghana Police Service Headquarters in Accra.

The company had long suspected Mr. Akyea of foul play, after he allegedly failed to render accounts of his six years service to the directors of the firm.

According to the company, judgment debts from all cases won from the law courts paid into the client's account, to which the accused person is a signatory, was not disclosed to the directors of the company.