The Special Prosecutor (SP), Martin Amidu has stated
that his office has no “tall list” of Members of Parliament (MPs) from both the
governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic
Congress (NDC) lined up for possible prosecution on corruption-related
offences.
This was contained in a statement issued by the
Office of the Special Prosecutor in Accra yesterday.
The statement, which was in response to a media publication suggesting that the SP has submitted a tall list of MPs from both the NPP and NDC for prosecution, also denied the submission of any tall list to Parliament.
Clarifying the working relation between the Office of the Special Prosecutor and the leadership of Parliament, Mr Amidu stated that he “has from time to time made written requests to the Speaker of Parliament to release named MPs to assist it in conducting investigation into allegations of the suspected commission of corruption and corruption-related offences.
He said apart from the Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga, who is a first accused in a pending case filed in the High Court and therefore facing possible prosecution, the office has not made any decision whether or not to charge any other MP for a corruption offence let alone pursue prosecution.
Currently, about eight other MPs from the NDC and the NPP, aside from Mr Ayariga, have been invited and released by Mr Speaker for statements to be taken from them for suspected corruption and corruption-related offences.
He said the investigators have not submitted any investigation dockets or recommended to the Special Prosecutor whether or not they ought to be charged with any corruption offences.
“The Office of the Special Prosecutor wishes to state that nine out of 275 MPs cannot by any acceptable use of the English language be said to be a tall list even for the purposes of an invitation to release Members of Parliament to assist the investigation of corruption offences,” Mr Amidu stated.
Below is the full
statement;
Silence, they say, is golden. But there is also the saying that in normal
social and administrative interaction “silence means consent except in the law
of contract”.
The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Majority Leader, the Hon. Osei Kyei
Mensah Bonsu, is reported in a publication on Ghana Web of 5th June 2019 to
have said in an interview on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia as paraphrased by the
report that: “…. Parliament through the Special Prosecutor has received a tall
list of parliamentarians, both NDC and NPP members who will be facing possible
prosecution by the SP for various offences.”
The Office of the Special Prosecutor wishes for the purpose of transparency and
accountability to state unequivocally that the Office has not submitted any
tall list of parliamentarians from both the NDC and the NPP to the leadership
of Parliament as the list of parliamentarians or “members who will face
possible prosecution by the SP for various offences”.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor has from time to time made written
requests to the Rt. Hon. Speaker to release named Members of Parliament to
assist it in conducting investigation into allegations of the suspected
commission of corruption and corruption-related offences.
Apart from the Hon. Mahama Ayariga, who is a first accused in a pending case
filed in the High Court and therefore facing possible prosecution, the Office
has not made any decision whether or not to charge any other Member of
Parliament for a corruption offence let alone for such member to face possible
prosecution by this Office.
Should there be any bi-partisan agenda for publishing such untruths the public
should be told upfront and boldly of their intentions and not through
subterfuge.
About eight (8) other Members of Parliament from the NDC and the NPP, aside
from the Hon. Mahama Ayariga, have been invited and released by Mr Speaker for
statements to be taken from them for suspected corruption and
corruption-related offences.
The investigators have not submitted any investigation dockets or recommended
to the Special Prosecutor whether or not they ought to be charged with any
corruption offences.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor wishes to state that nine out of 275
Members of Parliament cannot by any acceptable use of the English language be
said to be a tall list even for the purposes of an invitation to release
Members of Parliament to assist the investigation of corruption offences.
The records must therefore be set right by not remaining silent and lend
credence to the falsehood that there is a tall list from the Special Prosecutor
of “members who will be facing possible prosecution by the SP for various
offences”.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor shall, particularly, under the present
first Special Prosecutor continue to invite members of both the Executive and
Parliament without fear or favour, affection or ill will, to assist the Office
in investigating the suspected commission of corruption and corruption-offices
or as witnesses in such cases as required by the mandate of the Office.
When the list gets tall it will mean that the stables of corruption are getting
very dirty and smelly and need to be cleared vigorously to excise the canker as
demanded by the electorate at the 2016 elections and actualised by His
Excellency the President and Parliament. The Office has no evidence of such a
tall list yet.
It is true as disclosed in the interview by the Minister and Majority Leader
who is a dual member of the Executive and the Legislature, that the leadership
of Parliament engaged the Office of the Special Prosecutor, represented by the
Special Prosecutor and the Deputy Special Prosecutor, in the morning of 3rd
June 2019 in discussions over Hon. Mahama Ayariga, a first accused person whose
case was pending for hearing (arraignment) on 4th June 2019 pursuant to a Cause
List issued by the High Court, Accra.
The invitation by the Rt. Hon Speaker to the Special Prosecutor for the
discussion was dated 31st May 2019 and received in the evening of the same day
and has reference number OP/SPKR/19/030 and is not a classified document.
The Special Prosecutor made it clear at the discussions with the leadership of
Parliament that no provisions of the constitution referred to by the Rt. Hon.
Speaker in his invitation letter and submission at the meeting were applicable
to Members of Parliament charged as accused persons for the crimes of
corruption and put before a court of competent jurisdiction for trial.
The determination of the days on which the trial criminal court will conduct
the trial was entirely for the court to decide and not for the Special
Prosecutor to compromise in a private meeting with the leadership of
Parliament.
The Special Prosecutor stated clearly that the Office will abide by any
decision rendered by the courts on the matter but will not in a side-meeting
with the leadership of Parliament agree, in advance, not to oppose such an
application when raised by lawyers for the accused persons in court simply
because of their membership of Parliament.
The Rt. Hon. Speaker’s certificate on immunities and privileges to the Court on
4th June 2019 was issued after the engagement of this Office with Parliament on
3rd June 2019 and the results are well known.
The Executive and Parliament have a constitutional and legal duty to respect
the independence and impartiality of the Office of the Special Prosecutor as
promised to the electorate in the 2016 elections.
Any appearance of a bi-partisan mounting of pressure on the decision making
process of the Office of the Special Prosecutor sends a wrong signal not only
to the citizens of Ghana but also to the international community to whom the
appearance was given that all citizens are willing to equally submit to
investigation and prosecution for suspected corruption and corruption-related
offences.
The fight against suspected corruption has to be engaged in wholeheartedly by
every citizen and with total commitment as enjoined by the constitution.
This is the time to move from lip service to real action in the fight against
corruption subject only to the due process of the law.
The Special Prosecutor wishes to assure the Ghanaian public whose votes actualised
the Office that he is not going to betray them and walk away from this job to
satisfy any bi-partisan pressure.
The solution to gaining exception for Members of Parliament from investigation
and possible prosecution for suspected corruption offences is to get the first
Special Prosecutor out of office in a bi-partisan manner by impeachment or to
allow the appropriate independent constitutional institution to do so.
It will not work to allege a bi-partisan tall list for possible prosecution of
parliamentarians when no such a tall list exists or has been submitted by the
Special Prosecutor’s Office to any office: it only enables the creation of an
artificial bi-partisan smoke screen for purposes of unduly delaying or running
away from justice for a category of suspects accused of the commission of
corruption offences.
BY TIMES REPORTER
