The Office of the Special Prosecutor, has been quiet since the coming into office of the new helmsman, the youthful Kissi Agyebeng, almost one year ago.
Within that period, not even a single person has been arraigned before court. Towards the end of last year, specifically on December 9, 2021, in his first major press briefing,the New Special Prosecutor, indicated that, his office will from this year begin prosecution of some cases under investigation.
Addressing the media as part of activities of the OSP to mark the UN international day on anti-corruption on Thursday (9 December) Agyebeng, says his office is currently investigating 31 cases.
“The OSP has completed a review of all the alleged cases of corruption and corruption-related offences before it. Currently, the OSP is investigating thirty-one (31) active cases and it will in due course commence the prosecution in the courts of the cases it considers probatively strong. There is no case commenced by the OSP pending in the courts at the moment.”
“The OSP would vigorously investigate and prosecute cases of alleged or suspected corruption and corruption-related offences and recover proceeds of such offences through property tracing of tainted property and currency in line with our vision of rendering corruption a costly enterprise,” he said.
The Special Prosecutor, has issued a statement, indicating that, hehas commenced investigations into institutions accused of corrupt-related offences during the banking and financial sector crisis, this is despite the fact that, investigations have already been carried out with prosecutions ongoing.
The fear of this newspaper is rekindled by past experiences, where his predecessor went on witch hunt and arraigned some people before court on frivolous allegations, only for the case to be thrown out for lack of evidence.
Historically, the establishment of the OSP, was informed by the desire of the government to bring about a reduction in the volume of corrupt practices in the country.
At inception, and even now, the argument in favour of the anti-corruption drive that gave birth to it was, and still is, very compelling.
That is why we feel obliged to warn against shadow chasing, in order not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
That is why we feel obliged to warn against shadow chasing, in order not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
