UK SFO Man Heckles CHRAJ

Ahead of Monday’s Public Hearing on Mabey & Johnson Scandal

-As John Hardy Storms Town on a Media Blitz After presiding over the British Serious Fraud Office (SFO) prosecution of Mabey and Johnson (M&J) corruption trial, in which he dropped some former Ghanaian public officials, Mr. John Hardy QC, is in the country, on a media blitz. A highly placed source at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), told The Enquirer, last Wednesday that the presence and posturing of Mr. Hardy is worrying.

Even though Mr. Hardy claims that his visit to Ghana is a private one, he has already met with CHRAJ, over what undoubtedly, could only have been about the M&J case, which he handled.

Incidentally, CHRAJ, days after complaining about non-co-operation from the British SFO, has set Monday, March 15, 2010 to commence public hearings into the bribery allegations against some former Ghanaian public officials mentioned to have received various sums of money in the M&J scandal.

Mr. Hardy arrived in Ghana a few days ago and has since granted interviews to Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana, Joy FM, Daily Guide and others.

He was the main speaker at the pro – New Patriotic Party (NPP) Danquah Institute’s organized public lecture this week, where he made two presentations - on international corruption and money laundering.

The lectures were said to have been organised by the Danquah Institute, in conjunction with the Law Faculty of the University of Ghana, the Justice & Human Rights Institute and the Danquah Institute’s media partners.

John Hardy was described by the organisers as ‘a UK-based barrister who specialises in extradition, serious crime, money-laundering, human rights and mutual legal assistance.’

The source at CHRAJ told The Enquirer that the British Attorney’s mission in the country still remains unclear as he is claiming to be on a private mission.

According to the source, Mr. Hardy should have made his scheduled meeting with officials of CHRAJ, a topmost priority, rather than being all over the place. “He seems to be more interested in telling Ghanaians a lot about himself and other things that can easily have far-reaching ramifications on the work of CHRAJ as far as the M&J issue is concerned,” the source said.

The source stressed that the utterances by the UK Attorney are likely to have serious repercussion on the work to be done by CHRAJ and the preconception of the public.

The Chief Prosecutor in the M&J case is on record during some of the interviews he granted, to have said that there is documented evidence to support the prosecution of the Ghanaian government officials.

According to the reports, Mr. Hardy said that the documents point to culpability of the government officials.

But the source at CHRAJ told the Enquirer that the claim by Mr. Hardy that the officials are culpable is neither here nor there.

“If he says the officials are culpable, is it here in Ghana, the UK or where,” the source queried.

The source said that if the British Attorney is here on his own, it would be prudent for him to check his outburst because CHRAJ is capable of doing the right thing.

Since the M&J issue broke out, there have been concerns over the manner the British SFO disregarded the human rights of Ghanaian officials named in the scandal.

Whilst they protected the identity of the British officials of M&J, who were purported to have paid various sums to Ghanaian officials, the Ghanaian officials, who were not before the court, were named.

The prosecution by the British SFO and indictment of the M&J directors in the scandal led to some of the named Ghanaian officials, such as then Minister of Health, Dr. George Sipa Yankey, resigning from office.

The verdict of the Southwark Crown Court in the United Kindom was highly criticized in Ghanaian circles, for showing blatant disregard for The Principle of Natural Justice.

While the investigations were going on, the British SFO publicized its statement of case, impugning the reputation of the Ghanaian public officials, creating a false impression to the international community that they were committed to fighting corruption.

However, faced with a similar situation regarding transactions in Saudi Arabia, the UK Government declined to investigate the matter on grounds that they were committed to maintaining their international relations with the Saudi Government. Saudi Arabia is a major source of fuel supply to the UK.

The U-Turn of the UK Government, which came after the Saudi Government threatened to revise their trade relations, exposed the lack of political will of the UK Government in fighting corruption in certain jurisdictions. Interestingly, the UK-SFO document, the names of the Directors in the purported corrupt transactions were withheld and instead described as “Director A; Director B; Director C; Director D; and Director E”.

However, the names of the Ghanaian Officials, who although were not given any chance to defend themselves were put in the public domain.