OSP Investigates Complainant Over “Fabricated” Complaint Against MP

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) is investigating a complainant and accomplices for “fabricating” the content of a complaint filed against Mr Samuel Atta Akyea, Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South.

This follows an admission by the complainant that he had filed the complaint without any basis and that he was paid to accuse the MP of engaging in financial malfeasance, the OSP said in its Half Yearly Report (August 2022).

The OSP said it terminated investigations into the complaint in July this year for “lack of evidence.”

“The complainant and his accomplices are under investigation for filing the complaint with the singular aim of tarnishing the reputation of the respondent,” it said.

The Report spans the period covering 5 August 2021 to 31 July 2022.

The case involving Mr Atta Akyea forms part of three cases, which investigations have been concluded by the Special Prosecutor.

One of the cases involved an allegation that the Ghana Cocoa Board sole-sourced a contract to Agri-Plus Horizon Farms Limited “on the ground of nepotism and/or trade-based money laundering.”

The OSP said it had terminated investigation due to a lack of evidence.

The Special Prosecutor said it had also concluded investigations into a complaint of alleged ongoing illegal dealings between Labianca Company Limited and the Customs Division of Ghana Revenue Authority resulting in “unlawful” markdown or reduction of benchmark values of frozen food products imported by Labianca Company Limited.

The investigations, it said, concluded that a decision to render a customs advance ruling to Labianca Company Limited by reducing the values of their intended imports between a range of five per cent to 10 per cent below the benchmark values was wrongful and unsupported by the requirements of the law for the issuance of customs advance ruling.

The OPS said it had thus far prosecuted three cases: The Republic v. Mahama Ayariga and Another; The Republic v. Adjenim Boateng Adjei and Another, and Alexander Kwabena Sarfo-Kantanka.

In the case involving Mahama Ayariga, the Report said: “The Special Prosecutor entered a nolle prosequi on 11 October 2021. The Special Prosecutor explained to the Court that upon further scrutiny of the available evidence the Republic would be unable to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt on the allegation of abuse of public office for private gain.”

It said those involving Mr Adjenim Boateng Adjei, a former boss of the Public Procurement Authority, and Kwabena Sarfo-Kantanka, a nominee for the position of Chief Executive of Juaben Municipal Assembly in the Ashanti Region, trial was ongoing.

The OSP said it was also investigating more than 70 cases, all of which were yet to be concluded.

“The Office requires adequate support and funding and the assurance of protection for its staff to perform their functions devoid of unjustifiable recrimination,” it said.

By: GNA