The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and the Mobile Money Limited (MML) of MTN Ghana have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 25th July 2023 at the EOCO Head Office in Accra.
The Executive Director of EOCO, COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah in her opening remarks intimated that the MOU falls in line with the new vision of EOCO “to stay ahead of economic and organised crime” detailed in its recently launched 5-year Strategic Plan. Attaining this vision requires the collaborative effort of all relevant stakeholders which includes MML.
She indicated that this MOU marks a new phase of collaboration between the two institutions. She stated that even as mobile money has come to make life easy for all, criminals are also finding new ways to defraud unsuspecting Ghanaians. According to her, as part of the collaboration, MML will facilitate training and capacity building for staff of EOCO on current trends and cutting-edge technology in Mobile Money as to stay ahead in the fight against economic and organised crime.
The Chief Executive Officer of MML, Mr. Haruna Shaibu stated that as a leading provider of digital financial service in Ghana, MML owes a responsibility to work with EOCO to support and drive the quest to ensure a safe environment for their customers to conduct business and other personal transactions.
He expressed appreciation to all consumers for supporting the MTN Mobile Money platform. He however acknowledged that even as mobile money has become an integral part of Ghana’s financial terrain, the system has been saddled with issues of fraud, which has permeated some activities.
Citing recent reports by the Bank of Ghana, Mr. Shaibu stated that even though the percentage increase in the number of incidents reported between 2021 and 2022 was slight, the value of the financial loss amounted to about Twenty-six Million Ghana Cedis (GH₵26,000,000.00), which, according to him amounts to 103% growth in financial crime.
Mr. Haruna Shaibu bemoaned the loss for consumers to this organised crime and therefore noted the responsibility of MML to collaborate with law enforcement agencies to ensure that these perpetrators are brought to book. He was enthusiastic that the collaboration with EOCO would help to combat the increasing rate of these crimes and support EOCO in the fulfilment of its mandate to stay ahead in the fight against financial crime.
