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The probe by the Economic and Organised Crime Office into the alleged fraudulent payment of GHC51m judgment debt to Alfred Woyome has been described as a desperate attempt to whitewash President Mills, whose sense of integrity has been dealt a serious blow by his handling of the issue. In the view of John Boadu, a deputy communications director of the NPP, �the EOCO probe was not only shoddy but also a desperate attempt to save the face of President Mills and his appointees while properly hanging their bureaucratic co-conspirators.� Mr Boadu, like many Ghanaians, however, believes the attempt to save the face of the president has suffered a serious damage, leaving President Mills rather exposed as not only �a liar and a hypocrite but also a president with who cannot exert any influence over his appointees.� �The whole probe constitutes a disgraceful cover-up if you look at how Mills is handling the issue. For instance, both Betty and Duffour were indicted, but one wonders when they are going to be arrested, just as they have done to the civil servant,� he added. His view is shared by members of the NPP-Germany branch who are convinced that �the EOCO report and the way it was hurriedly prepared is a deliberate but desperate attempt to exonerate the President and portray him in a good light.� �Now, it is clear that the attempt to save the face of the president has backfired big time. All that the good people of Ghana now know is that the president�s decision to feign ignorance about the processes that led to the payment and the subsequent revelation by the EOCO report that his directives to stop the payment were twice ignored confirms the fact that our president is not only a liar and a hypocrite but also mere figure head in the scheme of affairs of the ruling party,� John Boadu stated yesterday. In an exclusive interview with the New Statesman, the former national youth organizer of the NPP insisted the president cannot be exonerated from the guilt associated with �this gargantuan crime.� �Mills knew about the agreement to pay his bankroller the dubious judgment debt from the onset and actually glossed it with the court order so that it will look legitimate. That is why he was busy screaming that he did not have any authority to stop payment ordered by court,� he added. Mr Boadu described as �the joke of the century� claims by Koku Anyidoho, director of communications at the presidency, that the GHC51m Woyome judgment debt scandal had shot up the president�s integrity in leaps and bounds. �If the NDC sees this disgraceful and embarrassing scandal as the basis for enhanced integrity for the president, then one should not be surprised about the kind of debased governance the nation is experiencing under President Mills,� noted. Mr Boadu added: �I wonder if the president and the people around him have any sense of shame. How can they look at the faces of the good people of Ghana and say the president has done well and is a man of integrity after he had supervised such a gargantuan crime against the nation?� Some observers see the Chairman of EOCO, Mr Akpadzi, an NDC Chief Legal Advisor in charge of Volta region during the 2008 elections, as the most recent civil servant to bring shame to his name and office, after the Auditor-General. They wonder why after EOCO had taken interest in the so-called GHS400, 000 paid to Mrs Neequaye, it failed to show similar interest in claims that Mr Woyome paid over GHS2.5million to the Castle, apparently used to transport NDC footsoldiers to South Africa. They also wonder why EOCO did not show interest in the rather alleged bigger payment made to GBC for the live broadcast of the President's six-hour drive around Accra to pick up his nomination forms from the NDC headquarters during the party�s presidential nomination contest.