Private legal practitioner Andrew Appiah Danquah has questioned the timing of the decision of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to chase after former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.
He argued that the OSP was established to tackle corrupt government appointees whether incumbent or past.
Read also:
- GHS sets up disability desks at Regional and District hospitals
- GHC500 for passport is too expensive – Ablakwa pledges to seek parliamentary approval for review
- We’ll ensure uninterrupted power supply – Energy Ministry
- Honorable Agnes Naa Momo Lartey takes office as gender minister
- Committee sets up WhatsApp platform for vetting chaos evidence
To that end, he expressed surprise that Mr Ofori-Atta was not questioned two years ago when the Akufo-Addo administration was in place.
Speaking on the New Day show on TV3, Appiah Danquah said “Why didn’t the OSP have the courage to take action 2 or 3 years ago? Suddenly the OSP has the courage to call him a fugitive. Could he have done that 2 or 3 years ago? Meanwhile, the argument why we needed the OSP was so that we will have somebody who will be able to prosecute corruption and corruption-related offences involving politicians without the holdback or without the influence of political authority.”
Meanwhile, Professor Kwadwo Appiagyie-Tua of the University of Ghana Law School has accused the OSP of rushing to declare Ken Ofori-Atta as a fugitive from justice.
He notes that there had been communications between the OSP and Mr Ofori-Atta’s lawyers and even the doctors at the hospital that Mr Ofori-Atta is seeking treatment in the United States, therefore declaring him a fugitive or a wanted was a hasty decision.
Prof Appiagyei-Tua further explained that because Mr Ofori-Atta’s situation is a medical condition, the doctors may have required additional time to carry out a thorough medical examination on him, this may have led to the situation where it was communicated to the OSP that Mr Ofori-Atta did not know the exact time to return to Ghana.
Speaking on the Agenda show on TV3 Tuesday, February 18, he said “The issue is a bit dicey and tricky to get an answer to. This is a medical issue and anything can happen. I think that on the balance of probability, probably the OSP should have been a little more patient in coming out with the statement it came out with.
“I think that there is a letter indicating that Mr Ofori-Atta had sent a note to the Chief of Staff, they know that he is in the US, he is in a particular hospital seeking medical attention, and there was a also message from the hospital. It wasn’t clear and that can be interpreted to be that they may not have found what might be wrong with him, therefore further checks are being undertaken. In that respect, I think that. It was a little bit rush on the part of the SP to have declared him a fugitive. Moreover, he has not been officially charged since he 9s a person of interest or a suspect.”
Lawyers of Ken Ofori-Atta had also said that the Office of the Special Prosecutor should not have declared their client a fugitive from justice in the first place.
Bright Okyere Agyekum, a member of Ofori-Atta’s legal team, said that the previous discussion on a specific date for the return of Mr Ofori-Atta had not been concluded when the OSP declared him a wanted person.
“That should not have taken place in the first place. If you look at the series of correspondence between the OSP and lawyers for Mr Ken Ofori-Atta it was evident that the parties were having communications and were discussing possible dates for the investigation or for his attendant.
“The parties had not concluded their deliberations, so with a little more time, they would have settled on what they settled on today [ the returning date]. So I think that he ought not to have been declared a fugitive or a person fleeing from justice,” he also said on the Agenda show on TV3 on Tuesday, February 18.
Bright Okyere Agyekum further denied claims that Mr Ofori-Atta stated he was out of Ghana indefinitely for which he was declared a fugitive from justice. He said the records available to the Office of the OSP do not support that claim.
“Let me state on record that it has never been Ofori-Atta’s case that he said with is out of the country indefinitely, he has never posted himself as such he has already been really to avail himself.
“The records are available, and the letters from both sides are all over the place. Ofori-Atta never stated anywhere that he was indefinitely out of the country,” he said.
Prior to his comments, the OSP had announced on that same day that Mr Ofori-Atta had been removed from its wanted list after officially informing them of his definite return to Ghana from the United States where he is receiving medical treatment.
On 12 February 2025, the Special Prosecutor declared Mr Ofori-Atta, a wanted person and a fugitive from justice on the ground that he had failed to indicate a reasonable time for his return to the jurisdiction – although he had been informed by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) that he was a suspect in various suspected corruption and corruption-related cases and he had been directed to physically attend the OSP in Accra on a specified date and at a specified time for interviewing.
On 18 February 2025, Mr. Ofori-Atta transmitted a communication through his lawyers to the OSP by which he stated a definite date of his voluntary return to the jurisdiction, the prosecutor said.
This marks a major shift from Mr. Ofori-Atta’s previous intention of remaining outside the jurisdiction indefinitely, it added.
“On 18 February 2025, the OSP acceded to Mr. Ofori-Atta’s request as it deemed his stated date of voluntary return to the jurisdiction reasonable in the circumstances. On 18 February 2025, the Special Prosecutor rescheduled the date of Mr. Ofori-Atta’s attendance at the OSP taking into account Mr. Ofori-Atta’s stated date of voluntary return to the jurisdiction.
“Consequently, Mr. Ofori-Atta has been removed from the OSP’s list of wanted persons and the OSP ceases to consider Mr. Ofori-Atta a fugitive from justice pending his voluntary return to the jurisdiction circa his stated date.
“If Mr. Ofori-Atta fails to voluntarily return to the jurisdiction circa his stated date, and if Mr. Ofori-Atta fails to attend the OSP on the rescheduled date, he shall be re-entered on the OSP’s list of wanted persons and the OSP shall then consider him a fugitive from justice, and the OSP shall take all necessary legal steps to secure his return to the jurisdiction and attendance at the OSP at our own choosing.
“The OSP is committed to its mandate of ensuring accountability guided by due process and fairness,” the OSP said on its X page on Tuesday, February 18.
📌NOTICE! pic.twitter.com/2VSdWnw6nu
— Office of the Special Prosecutor-Ghana (@ospghana) February 18, 2025
OSP declares Ofori-Atta wanted
