A private legal practitioner, Kwame Adofo, has accused the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng of acting outside his legal mandate in handling the corruption case involving former finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta, saying recent actions by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) expose “a lack of understanding of the law.”
Speaking on The Forum on Asaase Radio, Adofo said the OSP had mishandled the process by attempting to trigger an extradition request for Ofori-Atta without the authorisation of the Attorney-General, as required by Ghanaian law.
He criticised the OSP’s handling of communications around the case, alleging that the office improperly wrote to the Chief of Staff regarding the extradition process.
“In this republic, you cannot prosecute anybody in the name of the state unless you have been authorised by the Attorney-General to do so,” he said. “You cannot on your own trigger an extradition request without recourse to the Attorney-General. This is where he got it wrong.”
“Immediately you got the Chief of Staff involved, it means you are inviting politicians to come and help you do your work, which you are not supposed to do anyway,” he said.
The lawyer said the Special Prosecutor’s press conference earlier this month — which provided updates on ongoing corruption investigations — was an attempt to “throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians.”
“He was playing mind games with Ghanaians,” Adofo said. “The way he was making categorical statements about people under investigation is creating a big problem for the lawyers who must defend their clients.”
Adofo argued that such public commentary risked prejudicing the legal process and violating constitutional rights.
“The law says you are presumed innocent until proven guilty,” he said. “Holding press conferences as if these people are guilty already is a breach of the constitution.”
He further questioned the OSP’s authority to investigate the Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) contract, suggesting the office had not been properly authorised.
“The Special Prosecutor has not even read his Act,” Adofo said. “He thinks he can stretch his tentacles anywhere he so desires, but the law says he must be authorised by the Attorney-General or Parliament. All that he is doing is wrong.”
The OSP opened its investigation into Ofori-Atta and others in January, but the office has faced growing criticism over delays in concluding its probe and a perceived lack of coordination with the Attorney-General’s Department.
Source: asaaseradio.com
