The Special Prosecutor (SP), Kissi Agyebeng, is worried over the nation’s attitude towards the fight against corruption.
According to him, current trends with regards to the work of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, vis-à-vis the posture of the judiciary, portend doom for the nation in the fight against graft.
“OSP must be supported in its work. Should the OSP fail, Ghana would utterly lose the fight against corruption with its attendant erosion of our democracy. I pose the question again. Are we ready to fight corruption? We should all reflect on this,” said SP Agyebeng.
In Accra on Wednesday, November 29, 2023 the SP, Kissi Agyebeng, interacted with journalists on some happenings in relation to his office, during which he posed the question for reflection.
The SP cited four instances where the courts have decided on its cases in a manner depicting a regressive and dismissive approach to cases involving the OSP.
“And it seems to us that a careful examination of these outcomes portends a disturbing spectre, that the fight against corruption is being hampered to the disbenefit of us all. Four instances will suffice,” he opined.
FREEZING ORDER
The SP cited a case where the OSP applied to the High Court for a confirmation of a freezing order in respect of a deceased person’s estate. He said the judge refused to confirm the order by, in effect, holding that the OSP, had come too late since the person of interest had died and that his death had extinguished the enquiry commenced after the occurrence of death.
The SP opined that the danger of this outcome was obvious: that corruptly acquired property, upon the demise of the person, may be passed on and extinguish all scrutiny on the propriety or otherwise of the acquisition because the corrupt activities were not discovered during the lifetime of the owner.
WANTED
The second instance the SP mentioned was when the OSP declared as wanted, a person it believed to be a fugitive from justice. The person, Mr. Agyebeng said, through his lawyer, proceeded to the Human Rights Court on an ex parte application, and the judge “without even an enquiry as to why the OSP believed him to be a fugitive from justice,” issued an injunction order that the OSP should not arrest him for a period of ten days.
He remarked that the danger of the outcome encourages criminal suspects to go before the courts to seek injunction orders against law enforcement agencies from apprehending them.
He said the judge did not avert his mind to the well-founded proposition that no one has the right not to be arrested, “and he accorded the suspect a right not to be arrested.”
SEIZURE ORDER
In the third instance, Mr. Agyebeng said the OSP applied to the High Court for confirmation of a seizure order and a freezing order of the former Minister for Sanitation, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, who had reported that large cash sums in foreign denominations had been stolen from her residence.
The OSP subsequently discovered additional large cash sums in foreign denominations and cedis still stashed in her residence, but the judge “hastily dismissed” the OSP’s application and ordered a return of the seized amounts and the defreezing of her property.
He noted that the judge took the decision without the slightest consideration that seizure and freezing orders are designed by law to facilitate investigation into the affairs of suspects and not the other way of requiring thorough investigation before the OSP can seize or freeze.
He said, “The judge was only interested in a return of the money to the person of interest and nothing more, and he proceeded to erect non-existent legal barriers to prevent the OSP from investigating the matter.”
CUSTOMS
In the fourth instance the SP cited to make his point, he told journalists that the OSP had issued an investigation report in respect of the grant of a customs advance ruling by the Customs Division of Ghana Revenue Authority.
He explained that the report opined that there was an institutionalised culture of lighthearted unconcern regarding impropriety of action at the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, which indicated a high propensity to engender corruption and corruption-related activities. Consequently, the SP directed the opening of a wider investigation in respect of the affairs of the Customs Division.
The affected customs officials proceeded to the High Court to challenge the work of the OSP, and the judge accused the OSP of constituting itself into a court and a commission of enquiry by making findings.
“Worse, the judge then proceeded to prohibit the OSP from further investigating the affected persons. The judge fell into the grievous fault of what he accused the OSP of – by outlandishly going beyond his jurisdiction with a purported clothing of the affected persons with immunity from investigation and hence immunity from prosecution,” he asserted.
In the foregoing, he has urged the nation to reflect on the happenings, pointing out that the duty and mandate of the courts is to apply and enforce the laws of the Republic and not to clothe persons with immunity from criminal investigations and prosecution.
