It takes time & efforts but we are making corruption costly and unattractive – OSP

By
Laud Nartey
-
0
59
Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng
Advertisement

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has said it remains committed to the fight against corruption.

The OPS said its vision is to render corruption costly and unattractive in all its forms.

“It takes time & effort and we are doing exactly that. You can help by supporting the OSP and anti-corruption institutions,” the office wrote on its X platform.

 

The OSP recently provided a list of success stories since August 2021. Since that date, OSP said it has been actively engaged in a range of activities as part of its comprehensive fourfold mandate, which includes investigations, prosecution, asset recovery and management, and the prevention of corruption.

Providing the list of the achievements, the office mentioned the disruption of the counterfeit foreign currency manufacturing networks as one of them.

It revealed that seizures were made in two warehouses located in Accra and Tema, where a substantial amount of counterfeited forty million dollars ($40,000,000.00) was discovered concealed in steel trunks.

The OSP said it also caused the suspension of the $22 million lease agreement between the Tema Oil refinery (TOR) and Tema Energy and Processing Limited for corruption risk investigations.

SINCE AUGUST 2021, THE OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR (#OSP) HAS BEEN ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN A RANGE OF ACTIVITIES AS PART OF ITS COMPREHENSIVE FOURFOLD MANDATE, WHICH INCLUDES INVESTIGATIONS, PROSECUTION, ASSET RECOVERY AND MANAGEMENT, AND THE PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION. PIC.TWITTER.COM/8JSXUEFG3D

— OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR-GHANA (@OSPGHANA) DECEMBER 15, 2023

“The risk assessment focuses on the potential danger posed to the assets of TOR by the apparent decision of the Management to allow Torrentco/TEPL to obtain access to critical infrastructure of the state-owned company before, as the Board of Directors have readily acknowledged, due diligence on the transaction was complete.

“If this decision was by any means induced or influenced by corruption or corruption-related activity, and it is established that such inducement led to an unqualified company to access or operate the assets in question, more than $450 million of national assets could have been endangered,” it said.

The other achievement is the closed pathways for corrupt practices and tax avoidance.

It said that after its inquiry into the misuse of Customs Advance rulings and benchmark values, Parliament eliminated the provisions that permitted the discretionary use of such practices.

“This action has effectively closed a significant loophole that previously enabled the circumvention and underpayment of duties and taxes on imported goods, thereby safeguarding the nation from potential revenue losses amounting to millions of cedis. This move directly prevents unscrupulous officers from colluding with importers to manipulate taxes and secure personal gains at the expense of the country’s revenue,” the OSP said.

PIC.TWITTER.COM/OVYTTJH1RH

— OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR-GHANA (@OSPGHANA) DECEMBER 15, 2023

The publication of the success stories comes at a time the OSP has lamented the frustration it is facing in the line of its work given how the courts treat the cases it sends.

Recently, the Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng said that just as it was essential that anyone accused of a crime should have free access to the courts so that he may be duly acquitted if found not guilty of the offense with which he or she is charged, it was also of the utmost importance that the judiciary should not interfere with investigation and prosecution authorities in respect of matters which are within their statutory powers.

He said it would be gravely inimical to public policy, the fight against corruption, and the administration of justice if the courts stepped into this arena to decide who should be investigated or prosecuted and who should not.

“The danger of this startling decision is once again obvious,” he said.

“A judge has granted two persons immunity from investigation for suspected corruption and corruption-related offences and hence immunity from prosecution. This decision opens up a calamitous deluge as every person under criminal investigation would be encouraged to take out suits to injunct investigation and prosecution bodies from investigating and prosecuting them. The real and present danger looms largely on the consideration that by so doing, persons under investigation would conscript the judiciary to clothe them with immunity from investigation and prosecution.

” I do not intend to sound as though I am predicting doom. However, with this development, it would not be long, a suspected murderer or armed robber would boldly walk to court with the unthinkable prayer that the court should injunct law enforcement agencies from investigating him. We are not suggesting that the OSP is infallible and that every case brought by the OSP or against the OSP should end in a favourable outcome – no matter how improbable the evidence.

“However, it seems to us that the flagship public agency created by law to fight corruption should receive better regard and consideration by the courts and not the developing trend of dismissiveness and regression without regard to its governing enactments, and certainly not the erection of non-existent hurdles in its work and operations,” he said at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday November 29 while indicating that there appears to be a developing trend of rather regressive and dismissive judicial decisions in respect of cases involving the Office of the Special Procsueirt (OSP).

“In one case, the OSP applied to the High Court for a confirmation of a freezing order in respect of a deceased person’s estate. 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 danger of this outcome is obvious. It is to effect that a person may, in his lifetime, acquire property through corruption and then upon his demise happily pass on the corruptly acquired property to his estate and by so doing, extinguish all scrutiny as to the
propriety or otherwise of the acquisition of the property because his corrupt activities were not discovered during his lifetime.

lty provided a list of success stories since August 2021. Since that date, OSP said it has been actively engaged in a range of activities as part of its comprehensive fourfold mandate, which includes investigations, prosecution, asset recovery and management, and the prevention of corruption.

Providing the list of the achievements, the office mentioned the disruption of the counterfeit foreign currency manufacturing networks as one of them.

It revealed that seizures were made in two warehouses located in Accra and Tema, where a substantial amount of counterfeited forty million dollars ($40,000,000.00) was discovered concealed in steel trunks.

The OSP said it also caused the suspension of the $22 million lease agreement between the Tema Oil refinery (TOR) and Tema Energy and Processing Limited for corruption risk investigations.

“The risk assessment focuses on the potential danger posed to the assets of TOR by the apparent decision of the Management to allow Torrentco/TEPL to obtain access to critical infrastructure of the state-owned company before, as the Board of Directors have readily acknowledged, due diligence on the transaction was complete.

“If this decision was by any means induced or influenced by corruption or corruption-related activity, and it is established that such inducement led to an unqualified company to access or operate the assets in question, more than $450 million of national assets could have been endangered,” it said.

The other achievement is the closed pathways for corrupt practices and tax avoidance.

It said that after its inquiry into the misuse of Customs Advance rulings and benchmark values, Parliament eliminated the provisions that permitted the discretionary use of such practices.

“This action has effectively closed a significant loophole that previously enabled the circumvention and underpayment of duties and taxes on imported goods, thereby safeguarding the nation from potential revenue losses amounting to millions of cedis. This move directly prevents unscrupulous officers from colluding with importers to manipulate taxes and secure personal gains at the expense of the country’s revenue,” the OSP said.

The publication of the success stories comes at a time the OSP has lamented the frustration it is facing in the line of its work given how the courts treat the cases it sends.

Recently, the Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng said that just as it was essential that anyone accused of a crime should have free access to the courts so that he may be duly acquitted if found not guilty of the offense with which he or she is charged, it was also of the utmost importance that the should not interfere with  and  authorities in respect of matters which are within their statutory powers.

He said it would be gravely inimical to public policy, the fight against corruption, and the administration of justice if the courts stepped into this arena to decide who should be investigated or prosecuted and who should not.

“The danger of this startling decision is once again obvious,” he said.

“A  has granted two persons immunity from  for suspected corruption and corruption-related offences and hence immunity from . This decision opens up a calamitous deluge as every person under criminal investigation would be encouraged to take out suits to injunct investigation and  bodies from investigating and prosecuting them. The real and present danger looms largely on the consideration that by so doing, persons under investigation would conscript the  to clothe them with immunity from investigation and prosecution.

https://3news.com/we-need-to-support-the-special-prosecutor-afenyo-markin/

” I do not intend to sound as though I am predicting doom. However, with this , it would not be long, a suspected murderer or armed robber would boldly walk to court with the unthinkable prayer that the court should injunct  enforcement agencies from investigating him. We are not suggesting that the  is infallible and that every case brought by the OSP or against the OSP should end in a favourable outcome – no matter how improbable the evidence.

“However, it seems to  that the flagship public agency created by  to fight corruption should receive better regard and consideration by the courts and not the developing trend of dismissiveness and regression without regard to its governing enactments, and certainly not the erection of non-existent hurdles in its work and operations,” he said at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday November 29 while indicating that there appears to be a developing trend of rather regressive and dismissive  decisions in respect of cases involving the Office of the Special Procsueirt ().

“In one case, the OSP applied to the  for a confirmation of a freezing order in respect of a deceased person’s estate. The  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  had extinguished the enquiry commenced after the occurrence of .

“The danger of this outcome is obvious. It is to effect that a person may, in his lifetime, acquire property through corruption and then upon his demise happily pass on the corruptly acquired property to his estate and by so doing, extinguish all scrutiny as to the
propriety or otherwise of the acquisition of the property because his corrupt activities were not discovered during his lifetime.