Special Prosecutor nominee, Kissi Agyabeng
A former member of parliament and ranking member on the constitutional and legal affairs committee of parliament in the seventh parliament Inusah Fuseini has opined that Kissi Agyebeng if approved as Special Prosecutor can call a total overhaul of prosecutors and other professionals at the Office of Special Prosecutor.
Reacting to a question on the alleged influence of some prosecutors by former SP Martin Amidu and whether the nominee if approved should call for new workers admitted the nominee is clothed with the powers to overhaul his office.
The lawyer has expressed worry over the nomination of Kissi Agyebeng saying he lacks the maturity and courage to hold the position as SP.
Speaking on Rainbow Radio 875. Fm, he said the SP has the powers to ask for an investigator to be seconded to his office and so if you are an investigator and the SP is not satisfied with your work, he can demand your removal.
He explained that if Kissi Agyebeng is finally approved by parliament, he has the powers to do that. But this is the associated risk I was referring to. Even though you could be satisfied with the work of staff, the sensitive nature of this office, people could be compromised.
He asserted that the nominee is qualified but the temptation of the office will expose the nominee to compromises.
The lawyer clarified that he has not doubted the qualification of the nominee but doubting if the nominee can point out any wrongdoing of the president.
He said common sense and conventions should tell us that the nominee lacks the tenacity and courage to hold office.
He added Martin Amidu was the same age as the President but he was frustrated in achieving his goal as SP.
Prior to his resignation, Martin Amidu disclosed that his criminal investigations on former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Mr Adjenim Boateng Adjei, delayed because his investigators were compromised.
Mr Amidu who investigated potential acts of corruption on the part of Mr Adjei, said his office was collaborating with the office of the Auditor-General but that collaboration was cut short due to the conduct of his investigators.
This was contained in a letter dated Friday, November 13, 2020 and titled “An update on the referral of allegations of corruption against the Chief Executive Officer of the Public Procurement Authority by the Presidency to the Office of the Special Prosecutor”.
The former SP said: “one of the investigators was in constant communication with one of the lawyers of the suspects.”
He said the Auditor-General latter informed him that he (Auditor-General) had received a report from his staff that when they first met with his (Amidu) staff, they were told by his seconded staff investigators that the case was so good that each of them could benefit from it.
“In the interim it was becoming apparent from the manner the investigations were being conducted by the staff of seconded investigators to this Office that two of them were compromised because the Acting Head of Investigations and the case officer used less than one hour to search the premises of Talent Discovery Limited (TDL), Mr. Adjei’s residence, and Mr. Francis Arhin’s residence and literally found no material exhibits. Not even a telephone or iPad. Further intelligence disclosed that one of the investigators was in constant communication with one of the lawyers of the suspects. I raised the matter with the investigators at management meetings,” the letter read in part.
“…I confronted the Acting Head of Investigations with the facts but he flatly denied them. But the same scenario was playing in other cases such as three very serious ongoing investigations at the National Lotteries Authority, for suspected commission of corruption and corruption-related offences.”