OSP's report on Agyapa deal has been turned into political football - Samson Lardy

Private legal practitioner and TV host, Samson Anyenini Lardy, has said the corruption risk assessment report on the Agyapa deal released some days prior to the resignation of Martin Amidu as Special Prosecutor has become a political football.

According to him, though the report lacked a professional outlook, it had the potency of being used as one of the major tools to uncover some mysteries around the controversial Agyapa Royalties deal.

He added that due to the under resourced nature of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu had to single-handedly work on the Agyapa Royalties report.

Speaking at the One Ghana lecture series on fight against corruption, he said “the OSP has a number of departments, but it does not include a department for the prevention mandate, because of that Martin Amidu had to personally do all the work on the Agyapa transaction and wrote the report by himself, single handedly.”

“That report has many problems. It lacks a professional outlook even though in substance it’s a veritable tool to unearthing the actual purpose of the Agyapa transaction…You’d imagine that the OSP’s report irrespective of the problem it may contain will attract professional considerations. Unfortunately, it’s been turned into a political football,” he added.

Samson Lardy further advised that if government does not discourage the rampant attacks on anti-corruption crusaders, the country’s development will be perpetually hampered by the menace.

The former Special Prosecutor in the 64-page report remarked amongst other things that several pivotal processes had been overlooked in the Agyapa Royalties transaction.

He raised red flags over the Finance Ministry’s failure to secure parliamentary approval before selecting the Transaction Advisors.