The Mahama administration has officially dropped all criminal charges against the former National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, and Anthony Kwaku Boahen.
Also, the Former Chief Executive of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni, businessman Seidu Agongo, and Agricult Ghana Limited have been acquitted and discharged of all criminal charges in the COCOBOD case by the High Court.
This was after the State Prosecutors, upon the instructions of the Attorney General, filed a notice of withdrawal on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, to drop all charges against them.
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, has also withdrawn an appeal initiated by his predecessor, Godfred Yeboah Dame, against a Court of Appeal ruling that acquitted and discharged Ato Forson and Richard Jakpa of charges related to causing financial loss to the state.
In a Notice of Abandonment of Appeal dated January 23, 2025, Dr. Ayine stated that the state had decided not to pursue the matter any further.
“Please take notice that the Republic, having previously served notice of appeal against the judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal on July 30, 2024, hereby gives notice that it does not intend to prosecute the appeal further and abandons all proceedings related to this matter from the date of this notice,” he stated.
During the presentation of the committee’s report to the President at the seat of Government in Accra on Monday, February 10, ORAL Chairman Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said that if the country is able to recover this amount, there will be no need to go to the International Moneyray Fund for support.
“If we are successful in recoveries, we can retrieve as much as 20.49 billion United States dollars,” he stated. These cases include major corruption scandals involving the National Cathedral project, Power Distribution Services (PDS), and the Saltpond decommissioning project, among others,” Mr Ablakwa said.
President John Mahama also indicated after receiving the report that ” Ghaa I no longer a safe haven for corruption.”
He accordingly forwarded the report to the Attorney-General for further action.
But in his Facebook post, Mussa Dankwas said “I am not a lawyer but I understand enough to make suggestions on how to proceed with ORAL having witnessed the legal gymnastics in this country. We can’t assume that NDC will win the 2028 elections and we can’t wait for the Attorney General’s role to be split from that of state prosecution. These ORAL cases will travel beyond the 4 year term and therefore there is a risk of nolle prosequi to be filed in 2029 if NDC does not win the 2028 elections.
