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Special Prosecutor nominee Kissi Agyebeng has dismissed claims he was involved in the controversial Agyapa Royalties agreement.

He said he was nowhere close to the agreement.

“I was not involved in Agyapa transaction in any form or manner,” he said when he appeared before the Appointments Committee on Thursday July 22.

He added “I certainly will investigate the matter. The truth of the matter ought to be told, I was not involved in the deal.”
He was responding to a question in relation to a claim by Former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu to the effect that the Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame and Asaase Radio owner Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko are his personal friends.

Apart from the trio being friends, Mr Amidu, in an article dated Thursday, 29 April 2021 also said they were classmates at the University of Ghana’s Faculty of Law and Ghana School of Law.

Mr Amidu, who extensively took on Asaase Radio for, according to him, publishing falsehoods about his resignation as Special Prosecutor to justify the nomination of Mr Agyebeng, said: “Asaase Radio appears to have been so bent on pressurising the President to announce their preferred choice as the Special Prosecutor (the Agyapa Special Prosecutor) that it forgot that the nomination letter by the Attorney General was addressed only to the President”.

“How then did the nomination letter of a new Special Prosecutor come into the public domain to make the rounds in the press?” he asked.

He said: “Asaase Radio should also have told the Ghanaian and international public that its surrogate and nominee Special Prosecutor in the published letter is a personal friend and classmate of the Attorney General, and the owner of Asaase Radio, all of whom attended the University of Ghana’s Faculty of Law, and Ghana Law School”.

He added: “The independence of the Special Prosecutor from the direction or control of any person or authority in the performance of the functions of his office is the operative statutory words for the nomination of an impartial Special Prosecutor! Not a word with an ‘ism’”.

In the area of corruption, Mr Kissi Agyebeng said it will not be possible for him to stop the practice in Ghana.

Rather, he said, if he is approved by Parliament, he will make the practice a high risk activity in order to deter people from indulging in it.

“There is no way I can stop corruption, God himself will not acclaim to that. I am going to make corruption costly, a high risk activity,” he said.

He added “I will institute what I call pressure for progress. The will be a systemic review of public agencies.”

He further explained when wealth acquired by person in Ghana can be described as unexplained wealth when he was asked to do so.

He told the Appointments Committee that if persons are unable to explain the source of the wealth as against the lawful income they earn, then it qualifies to be described as unexplained wealth.

Asked by Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu to explain what unexplained wealth is, Mr Agyebeng said “It is a bit too overbroad to explain unexplained wealth in criminal jurisprudence.

“Criminal construct should be more pointed, more focused and clearly delineated because of the specter of someone ending up in jail, losing his liberty or being fined hefty fine an amount.

“And so if we are to place it in proper context unexplained wealth, I would say if the person cannot reasonably explain as march against his lawful income, the amount of money in questions then that aspect in my opinion should be criminalized but if you can reasonably explain how you came by that amount of money then that should be acceptable.”

Haruna Iddrisu further said Ghana needs a person who will be able to help the country fight graft.

 “Ghana needs a person who will fearelesly and courageously fight corruption to which we are told we lose 3b US dollars annually to graft and economic related crimes ant fraudulent practices associated procurement and other unethical conduct in our country.”