Special Prosecutor’s Office to publish its cases soon – Board Chair

• Posted on April 12, 2019
• by Ellsamwise King
• Comment

The Special Prosecutor’s Office will soon publish updates on various cases of alleged corruption it has investigated so far.

The Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, who is also the board chair of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, Linda Ofori Kwarfo, made this known on the sidelines of a forum on disallowance and surcharge held in Accra.

“If you look at the Special Prosecutor Act, there is a provision that requires the office to make public to Ghanaians the list of cases they have been working on over a period of time. It is supposed to be published in daily newspapers. It is supposed to be seen.”

The Act says the office shall, on a quarterly basis, publish the following information in at least two daily newspapers of national circulation and on the website of the Office, the list of corruption cases investigated and prosecuted by the Office; and the number of convictions secured.

“I know that the office, in due course, not too long from now, will publish this list,” Mrs. Ofori Kwarfo assured.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor, headed by Martin Amidu, is mandated to investigate and prosecute cases of alleged corruption and corruption related offences under the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) and investigate allegations of corruption and corruption related offences under the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) implicating public officers, politically exposed persons and persons in the private sector implicated in the commission of the alleged crimes.

The office has recently been petitioned over the illegal mining investigation by Anas Aremeyaw Anas, alleged procurement breaches and conflict of interest against the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Cooperation (GNPC), Dr. K.K. Sarpong and alleged malfeasance by the former Electoral Commission Chairperson, Charlotte Osei, among others.

The status of these cases remains unclear.

Mr. Amidu is however yet to begin any prosecutions over a year from his appointment in January 2018, amid the well-publicised resource constraints of his office.

But he has assured that his office will prosecute its first case in 2019.