A third witness in the ongoing inquiry into the alleged plot to remove the Inspector General of Police, Dr George Akuffo Dampare from office, has named one Asante [said to be another police officer] as an accomplice who helped Mr Daniel Bugri Naabu to record their private conversation.

Superintendent George L. Asare made this revelation on Monday, September 4, when he appeared before the Parliamentary bi-partisan seven-member Committee investigating the leaked tape.

He further claimed that his intelligence gathering showed that ASP Asante was the one who did the recording.

In his testimony to the Committee, Supt. Asare claimed that when the recording was released, Bugri Naabu called him, referring to him [Supt. Asare] as Asante, and questioned why he shared the audio.

He also told the Committee that the ASP Asante in question received assistance from the Commissioner of Police (COP) George Alex Mensah [another police officer featured in the alleged leaked recording] to attend the Police College.

Supt. Asare, however, assured the Committee that he would provide them with much of the information on the alleged officer on condition that the hearing forum be changed to an in-camera setting.

Meanwhile, Mr Naabu, a former Northern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, during his public hearing before the Committee, on Monday, August 28, confirmed the authenticity of the secret tape.

Mr Naabu admitted that he recorded the tape with the assistance of someone he had hired and paid.

Additionally, Mr Naabu cited three police officers — Commissioner of Police, George Alex Mensah, Superintendent George L. Asare, and Superintendent Emmanuel Eric Gyebi — as the trio that he had engaged in the controversial conversation with at his office in Osu, Accra.

Background

On Tuesday, July 11, an audio recording allegedly involving a police commissioner and a politician discussing a plot to remove IGP George Dampare from office leaked into the media.

As a result, the Minority Caucus in Parliament demanded an investigation into the clandestine plot contained in the audio.

The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, eventually appointed a seven-person bi-partisan committee on July 25, 2023, to investigate the audio in question.

The Committee constitutes three members each from the Majority and Minority sides of Parliament, and a technical person.

It is expected to revert back to the House on September 10.