The International Criminal Police Organisation, commonly known as INTERPOL, is an international organisation that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime control.
In the past few days, readers will recall that, news media was awashed with the purported arrest warrant issued by the Lyon based international police organisation, Interpol, for one Samuel Adam Forster and three other persons (Philip Sean Middlemiss, Leanne Sarah Davis and Sarah Furneaux) in connection with the alleged Airbus bribery case in which the above individuals were named as witnesses of interest in a Southwark Court, in London in January 2020.
Subsequently on February 3 2020, President Akufo-Addo tasked the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, to probe ‘Government Officials’ in Airbus bribery scandal.
Following an investigations by Ghanamatters.com, yesterday, July 16, which established that the purported arrest warrant issued by Interpol was fake, the head of the Criminal Investigation Department, of the Ghana Police Service, COP Ken Yeboah, has sort to explain that the Office of the Special Prosecutor requested the CID to inform Interpol about an investigation they had begun into the matter and as such needed these four persons interdicted.
Ghanamatters.com, can authoritatively confirm that upon further checks within Interpol, there is an established international procedure and protocol for member states of Interpol to follow before a red notice alert is issued. Incidentally, Ghana did not follow the laid down protocol.
According to our sources within Interpol and from international criminal legal experts, a prosecuting authority interested in inviting a person to assists in any investigation, must first serve individuals with an invitation and publish same.
Should the individual fail to honour the invitation, the prosecuting authority must request a warrant through a court of competent jurisdiction in the member state.
The police upon a warrant being granted by the court, can then request a red notice from Interpol, if they believe the said individual is domiciled outside the member state jurisdiction. This was clearly not followed by the Ghanaian authorities.
Our sources can confirm that, Interpol has rejected Ghana’s red notice request. More to follow…
Below are the procedures on how red notice alerts are requested, reviewed and issued by Interpol.
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Source: Ghanamatters.com
