Lawyer Martin Kpebu has called on the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and the Attorney-General to review the approach used in setting bail conditions.
Reacting to the bail conditions imposed on Dennis Miracles Aboagye, Kpebu argued that relying mainly on registered properties may not always provide the strongest guarantee that a suspect will honour court processes.
He explained that a person with a strong reputation and fewer assets could sometimes be a more reliable surety than someone with several properties.
“Someone with a big name and a small registered house might actually be a more reliable surety because such individuals would not want their reputation tarnished if the accused jumps bail,” he said on Adom TV.
Kpebu acknowledged that EOCO prefers registered landed properties because they provide a level of security and make verification easier.
“The reason EOCO prefers a registered landed property is that the person may decide to sell after the verification, but that is neither here nor there because people can go about a smart way to sell if they still want to,” he stated.
He appealed to EOCO boss Raymond Archer and the Attorney-General to develop clearer and more practical guidelines for bail conditions.
“I would appeal to the EOCO boss, Raymond Archer, and the Attorney-General to develop a more practical and sensible guideline for our bail conditions because the current conditions don’t show practical sense,” Kpebu added.
