Here’s how EOCO manage assets recovered from corruption cases

Victoria Akegi Asamoah, an official at the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), has provided insight into how the institution handles assets recovered from corruption-related investigations in Ghana.

Speaking on Joy FM on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, she explained that EOCO follows a structured process to ensure that recovered assets are returned to the rightful beneficiaries, whether state institutions or private individuals. According to her, this process only takes place after investigations have been fully concluded.

“Some of these monies that are recovered belong to state institutions and to individuals as well, so, after investigations, if these monies are recovered, they go to the appropriate or beneficiary institutions and beneficiary individuals. So, the ones that have to go to the state institutions are redirected into something that will profit everybody in Ghana,” she said.

Asamoah also addressed how non-monetary assets, such as stolen vehicles, are handled. She noted that EOCO often returns these items directly to their owners. In cases where assets belong to international beneficiaries or where it’s not feasible to return them in their original form, EOCO may auction them, based on court directives.

“There are others that we give to institutions like the GRA, NHIA directly. It’s not just money; it may also involve stolen vehicles. We have been doing cases on stolen vehicles, and most of them belong to individuals. And so those cars go back to the individuals, and some of these properties are even auctioned,” she stated.

She further noted, “We have international beneficiaries as well, so the courts can determine whether we should auction the property depending on the complexities involved in getting the property back to the individual. We can auction the property, and then the funds are returned to the individual.”

Her remarks come in the context of ongoing investigations under the government’s Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL), a campaign focused on retrieving misappropriated state assets and promoting accountability among current and former public officials.