You should know better as a lawyer – NPP MP cautions Special Prosecutor over critique of judiciary

Alfred Obeng-Boateng the Member of Parliament for Bibiani-Anhwiaso Bekwai constituency has criticized the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, over his recent press conference where he alleged that the judiciary was somewhat obstructing his work.

Speaking on a panel discussion on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo on December 8, 2023, he questioned the motivation behind Agyebeng's decision to hold a press conference and publicly suggest that his work was being hampered by the judiciary.

According to him, the OSP has by now regretted his action.

“We thank the OSP for his seriousness in fighting corruption in the country and how he is doing his job.

“The government is supporting him with all the needed resources to be able to do his work … however he is claiming facing frustration from the judiciary and for that, he should know better because I am sure by this time, he has regretted saying those things, as a lawyer, he should not be saying these things in public,” he said.

Kissi Agyebeng during the said press conference shared his observations about a trend of dismissals by some members of the judiciary regarding the work of the OSP.

The OSP then alluded to four instances where the court made pronouncements in favour of suspects being investigated for corruption and corruption-related cases by his office.

"We do not force feed cases; we do not force feed our prosecutions. It is our belief that it is not a matter of us going beyond our mandate but rather a case of hasty dismissiveness and lack of regard because if you take the four cases I tabled out over a period of time spanning from July 2022 to Monday, there is a troubling trend.

"In one of the cases, I said a judge injuncted us from arresting a person. Mind you, we were not in court. We had declared the person wanted as a fugitive from justice, there was absolutely no enquiry as to why we believed that the person was a fugitive from justice so it is not as if we breached the law.

"No one asked us why we declared the person wanted. Then we were served with an injunction order that we cannot arrest the person meanwhile we know that in our law no one has the right not to be arrested. You cannot say you are granting a person a right not to be arrested.

"So when we receive judicial decisions like that it makes us assume that we are being prevented from arresting someone who is a fugitive from justice,” he said.

Agyebeng's assertions come in the wake of the dismissal of several requests and applications made by the OSP in its ongoing fight against corruption.

In July 2022, the Accra High Court dismissed the OSP's request to freeze the assets of the late Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, popularly known as Sir John, a former CEO of the Forestry Commission. This followed the OSP's decision to freeze all assets related to Sir John as part of an investigation into the acquisition of state lands and properties specified in his will.

Agyebeng warned of potential dangers if the court continues to injunct or prohibit investigations, suggesting that soon even murderers might boldly seek injunctions to shield themselves from prosecution.

Addressing the challenges, he has faced since assuming the role of Special Prosecutor, Agyebeng highlighted a recent court ruling that prohibited him from continuing an investigation into the Labianca tax case. The court quashed adverse findings made by the OSP against Col. Damoah and one Adu-Kyei, accusing them of wrongdoing in granting tax waivers to Labianca Company, owned by Council of State member Eunice Asomah-Hinneh.

Despite the court ruling, Agyebeng has vowed to pursue the case, expressing concern about the potential bad precedent set by frequent court interference in his work.

AM/SARA

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