A private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu has defended the decision of the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng to discontinue probe into alleged attempt by an unnamed wealthy businessman to bribe over 80 NPP Members of Parliament to back down on their quest to have Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, removed from office.
He said for any lawyer worth his salt to take a case to court, he or she must have evidence beyond reasonable doubt.
“For a lawyer to use the phrase, ‘it appears’, it means he is not totally convinced. He also said ‘almost conviction’, so he cannot go to court with that. It is not every case that you take to court,” he explained.
Ón January 3, Mr. Kissi Agyebeng said his office is unable to continue with the probe because it would not yield the desired results.
He explained that they have come to this conclusion because the accuser, Andy Appiah-Kubi has failed to cooperate in the investigations.
“Consequently, notwithstanding the OSP’s almost conviction that a certain well-known wealthy Ghanaian businessman visited Parliament House circa 1 October
2022 and requested a meeting with a section of NPP Members of Parliament
and that the businessman in question had attempted to offer them money to
influence their demand for the resignation or removal of Mr. Ofori-Atta, and that Mr. XXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXX is the businessman in question – the
rehearsed and choreographed refusal to cooperate and continued refusal to
cooperate by the accuser and vital key, Mr. Appiah-Kubi, produce the very
unhappy result that there is not enough probative evidence (direct or
circumstantial) to sustain the institution of criminal proceedings against the
OSP’s identified suspect,” portions of a report dated December 28 issued by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) read.
The Special Prosecutor added that, “Mr. Appiah-Kubi’s refusal to cooperate with the investigation and his refusal to disclose the identity of the suspect are most regrettable. It is quite perplexing for a Member of Parliament to level accusations of attempted bribery on a person (whether certain or uncertain) in a most spectacular and public manner on a
network of a major media house and then stage a bizarre volte-face by refusing
to cooperate with the investigation and refusing to disclose and/or confirm the
identity of the suspect.”
The SP stated that, “The investigation may be re-opened should the circumstances and further facts so dictate.”
Mr Kpebu stressed that it is therefore important that Mr. Appiah-Kubi’s side of the story is heard.
Repeating statements he made on the Ghana Tonight show on TV3, Mr Kpebu said “At this stage, this story is still very fluid, you know how very sensitive this matter is, it keeps changing by the hour, so at this stage, I am not able to conclude.
“Mr Appiah-Kubi is an astute lawyer and we are yet to hear from him so it will be hard for me to conclude based on the OSP report.
“I will be very surprised that after making all these allegations it turns out that he is not cooperative. That is why I want to hold my horses till Mr Appiah-Kubi is interviewed, then we can juxtapose his responses with those of the OSP and then come to a conclusion.
“I am not saying Appiah-Kubi is a saint, but it will cast a slur on his reputation if he doesn’t respond.”