Former Special Prosecutor Martin
Amidu has told President Nana Akufo-Addo that his office, as far as the
procedure adopted in granting Executive Approval to the controversial Agyapa
Royalties transaction is concerned, failed the corruption and anti-corruption
risk test.
In his resignation letter to the President, the
anti-corruption crusader, who accused the President of politically interfering
with his probe into the Agyapa deal, said: “More importantly, Your Excellency
was acting as a judge in your own court, in usurping my functions to take any
independent follow-up actions on the anti-corruption assessment report when you
[President] knew from my 13-page letter of 16 October 2020, conveying the
conclusions and observations of the anti-corruption assessment report to you
that negative anti-corruption assessment had been made against the conduct of
your office in the procedure adopted in granting the Executive Approval dated
24 March 2020 and your assent of the Minerals Income Investment (Amendment)
Act, 2020 (Act 1024) on 27 August 2020 intended to retroactively impact the parliamentary
approval of the transactions document granted on 14 August 2020”.
Mr Amidu explained: “Pages 31 to 33; and 52 to 53 of
the full 64-page report, submitted to you on 2 November 2020, contains the
detailed anti-corruption assessments on these matters. The total of the
foregoing interventions by you in my functions, make my position as the Special
Prosecutor, untenable”.
The former Attorney General
also, directly told the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces that he
could not direct him about as far as his handling of the corruption and
anti-corruption assessment report of the deal was concerned, adding that he
refused to “bargain” with the President, who insisted he (Amidu) infuse Finance
Minister Ken Ofori-Atta’s comments about the deal, into his (SP’s) final
report.
Mr Amidu, in his corruption and anti-corruption risk
assessment report on the deal, said the Transaction Advisor(s) involved were
susceptible to “nepotism, cronyism and favouritism”.
Latest News In Ghana. Click Here To Read Our Latest
News Stories
In his resignation letter to the President dated Monday, 16 November 2020,
however, Mr Amidu revealed that the President, on several occasions, pestered
him to either freeze the report or add his cousin’s comments to the report.
He said: “After receiving my letter under reference
on 19 October 2020, you ordered your Chief of Staff on 20 October 2020, to
deliver an urgent message personally to me on the same day”.
“When she could not reach me on telephone, she decided to
invite me in writing in her letter with reference number OP/COS/015 dated 2o
October 2020, stating that: ‘I have been directed by HE the President of the
Republic, to deliver an urgent message personally to you, today, 20 October
2020. I am looking forward to seeing you as requested’.
“I received the Chief of Staff’s
letter the next morning, 21 October 2020, and reported to her office as
requested. The message she delivered to me was that: You had instructed that I
was not to do anything about my report on the Agyapa Royalties Transaction
until I had met you on Friday, 23 October 2020.
“You were away in the Volta Region when I met the
Chief of Staff.
“I met Your Excellency in your office in the
afternoon of 23 October 2020 and I underscored the fact that my letter dated 16
October 2020 to you was sent out of the necessary courtesy of prior information
to your office as President of the Republic and the Commander-in-Chief
responsible for national security.
“I also underscored the fact that the analysis of the
risk of corruption and anti-corruption assessment, was conducted
professionally, and could not be reviewed by the Minister of Finance or
yourself, and my letter was particularly not intended for you to direct me as
to how to conduct the duties of my office.
“Your Excellency insisted that I should withhold any
further action on the report for one week. I reluctantly agreed to your terms
but gave you notice immediately that I did not intend to continue as the
Special Prosecutor because of your interference the performance of my functions
under the law.
“You eventually invited me to your office in the
evening of Sunday, 1 November 2020, where I, again, asserted that I was not
going to bargain over the independence of my function as the Special
Prosecutor.
“I refused to take the copy of the alleged comments
from the Minister of Finance you offered me, as that would have compromised my
independence as the Special Prosecutor.
“I also refused to shelve my report to enable you
handle the matter, which explains my press release to the public on the morning
of 2 November 2020 and the follow-up with the distribution of the full 64-page
Agyapa Royalties Transactions Anti-corruption Assessment Report to the Public.”
“Unbeknownst to you that I had published the full
64-page report to the public, you caused a press statement to be made based on
my letter dated 16 October 2020 to you under reference which sought to
politicise and downplay the seriousness of the professional analysis of the
risk of corruption and anti-corruption assessment reported by my office”.
“It, thus, became abundantly clear to me that I cannot
continue under your government as the special prosecutor because we disagree
with the non-partisan independence of the special prosecutor in the performance
of the functions of my office in preventing and fighting corruption and
corruption-related offences.”
According to Mr Amidu, “the 64-page analysis of
corruption and anti-corruption assessment report, discloses several serious
corruption and corruption-related offences in respect of which I intended to
open full investigations as the Special Prosecutor.”
“I cannot do that now after your political
interference in the performance of functions of the office for two weeks – from
20 October 2020 to 1 November 2020 – culminating in your directives on how the
anti-corruption assessment report of Agyapa Royalties Limited Transaction by
this office should be handled by the principal suspects disclosed by the
anti-corruption assessment report”.
No comments