- throws Order Application to freeze Sir John’s assets
The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, is in the process of filing an appeal against the Accra High Court’s dismissal of his application seeking to freeze the assets of the late former General Secretary of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, also known as “Sir John”.
The Court, yesterday prevented the Office of the Special Prosecutor from freezing the assets of the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Forestry Commission.
As part of investigations into his illegal acquisition of state lands and other properties, the Special Prosecutor, announced freezing Sir John’s assets.
The Special Prosecutor, subsequently filed an application in court to confirm this order, but the application was dismissed by an Accra High Court presided over by Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe, yesterday, July 12, 2022.
Kissi Agyebeng, explained in a statement that the judge misconstrued the application for confirmation of the freezing order and misdirected herself by characterising the application as that of a confiscation order.
Investigations into alleged corruption by Sir John commenced after portions of his will showing the acquisition of state lands within the Achimota forest and the Sakumono Ramsar site emerged.
The will which showed that Sir John had bequeathed state lands to some relatives caused a public uproar.
Some civil society groups subsequently petitioned the Special Prosecutor and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate the acquisition of the state lands.
Unhappy with the dismissal of the application, the Office of the Special Prosecutor, in a statement, insisted that: “the judge with respect totally misapprehended the application for confirmation of the freezing order and misdirected herself by characterising the application as that of a confiscation order”.
The Office has thus decided to appeal the ruling.
“On this reckoning, the Special Prosecutor has directed the filing of an appeal against the ruling of Her Ladyship Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe. The net effect of the ruling of the High Court is that a person may, in his lifetime, gleefully acquire property through corruption and then upon his demise, happily pass on the corruptly acquired property to his beneficiaries for their benefit and by so doing, extinguish all scrutiny as to the propriety or otherwise of the acquisition of the property because his corrupt activities were not discovered during his lifetime.”
The Special Prosecutor in the statement explained it is appealing the ruling because: “If this decision is left to stand, the Republic will lose the fight against corruption in unimaginable ways”.
The emergence of the will came after the controversial declassification of parts of the Achimota Forest and return to its allodial owners.
