Martin Amidu storms MTN Head office for Ayariga call records

In a bid to take up the corruption bull by the horns, Special Prosecutor Martin Alamisi Amidu, perhaps not wanting any interference, visited the head office of telecommunication giants MTN, to demand for the call logs of Mahama Ayariga on Thursday, January 24.

Flanked by his Secretary and another official from his outfit, the Special Prosecutor was made to wait for about 30 minutes at the premises after which he was asked to return at a later date, ghanaweb.com gathers.

Earlier, an Accra Circuit Court had ordered Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) to produce the call records of a conversation between Mahama Ayariga, the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central and an officer of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

This was to help the office of the Special Prosecutor to complete an investigation in which Mr. Ayariga is a person of interest.

But in a quick rebuttal Mr. Ayariga directed his lawyers to challenge the directive from the Court in order to halt the move by the Special Prosecutor.

According to a report from graphiconline.com the Bawku Central MP noted that he would have handed his MTN call records to the Special Prosecutor if the request was made directly and not through an "over-broad order".

"I, Mahama, Ayariga would have gladly personally handed my MTN call records to Mr Martin Amidu, if he had just asked me directly, so he will see that I have never placed a call to Mr Kwasi Gyimah-Asante’s phone. I still do not know who Kwasi Asante-Gyimah is.

"I, however, think that in the interest of developing clarity on the law protecting the privacy of the communication of Ghanaian citizens on mobile telecommunications platforms, and setting proper precedents, the breath of the court order should be subjected to legal scrutiny. I have therefore instructed my lawyers accordingly", he is quoted to have stated.