Amidu met with MPs before the appearance of Ayariga

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The special prosecutor revealed that he had met members of parliament at the request of the president, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, before the court appearance of the deputy of Bawku Central.

In a statement issued Thursday, Martin Amidu said that at the meeting of June 3, 2019, he discussed the criminal prosecution of Mr. Mahama Ayariga by the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Criminal Conduct.

According to Special Prosecutor, he told the meeting that "tThe determination of the days on which the court will hold the trial rests entirely with the Court and not with the Special Prosecutor. "

He added that "the provisions of the Constitution mentioned by the Rt. Hon. In his letter of invitation and comments at the meeting, the President did not apply to members of Parliament charged with corruption offenses and brought to justice in a court of competent jurisdiction. "

Martin Amidu therefore reminded the Executive and Parliament of their constitutional and legal obligation to respect the independence and impartiality of the Special Prosecutor's Office, as promised to voters in the 2016 elections.

"Any appearance of bipartisan pressure on the decision-making process of the Special Prosecutor's Office sends a bad signal not only to Ghanaian citizens, but also to the international community to whom the appearance has been given that all citizens are willing to submit investigations and prosecutions for alleged corruption and corruption-related offenses, "he said.

The complete declaration is reproduced below.

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR, THE OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR DOES NOT HAVE A GENERAL LIST OF PARLIAMENT MEMBERS FOR POSSIBLE PROCEEDINGS.

Silence, they say, is gold. But there is also the saying that in normal social and administrative interactions, "silence means consent except in contract law".

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Majority Leader, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, is reported in a web publication in Ghana from 5th June 2019, in an interview with Ade Akye Abia of Okay FM, as paraphrased the report, that: "…. Parliament through the Special
The prosecutor has received a long list of parliamentarians, members of the NDC and the NPP, who could be prosecuted by the SP for various offenses. "

The Office of the Special Prosecutor wishes, for the sake of transparency and accountability, to state unequivocally that the Office has not submitted any list of NDC and NPP parliamentarians to the leadership of Parliament as a list of parliamentarians or "members of parliament". who may face potential prosecution of the PS for various offenses. "

The Special Prosecutor's Office has from time to time addressed written requests to the Rt. Hon. The President must release the appointed members of Parliament to badist in conducting an investigation into allegations of alleged corruption and corruption-related offenses.

Outside the Hon. Mahama Ayariga, who is a 1 st Accused of a pending case before the High Court and therefore being prosecuted, the Bureau has not yet taken any decision to charge another Member of Parliament with a bribery offense, and even less than the latter
face potential lawsuits from this office. If there was to be a bipartisan program for the publication of such falsehoods, the public should be informed from the start and boldly of its intentions and not by a subterfuge.

About eight (8) other NDC and NPP deputies, except the Hon. Mahama Ayariga, were invited and released by the President for statements to be taken on charges of corruption and corruption-related offenses. The investigators did not submit any list of investigations or recommend to the Special Prosecutor whether they should be charged with corruption.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor wishes to point out that nine out of 275 members of Parliament can not be considered a list of choice, even by an acceptable use of the English language, even for the purposes of the invitation to release Members of Parliament to help them investigate corruption offenses. The registers must therefore be corrected by not being silent and wrongly baderting that the special prosecutor has drawn up a long list of "members at risk of prosecution by the PS for various offenses".

Under the first prosecutor's office, the Office of the Special Prosecutor continues, in particular, to invite members of the executive and the Parliament without fear or favoritism, affection or unwillingness to badist the Office in investigating alleged violations of the law. corruption and corruption. or as witnesses in the cases required by the Bureau's mandate.

When the list is long, it will mean that the corruption stables become very dirty and nauseating and need to be vigorously cleaned to eliminate the chancre demanded by the electorate in the 2016 elections and updated by His Excellency the President and the Parliament. . The office still has no evidence of such a long list.

It is true that the minister and leader of the majority, who is both a member of the executive and legislative branches, has revealed that the Special Prosecutor's Office, represented by the Special Prosecutor and the Deputy Special Prosecutor, had been engaged by the direction of Parliament. the morning of 3 rd June 2019 in the discussions on the hon. Mahama Ayariga, a 1 st The accused whose case was awaiting hearing (indictment) on 4th June 2019 according to a list of causes issued by the High Court, Accra.

The invitation from the right The Honorable the President of the Special Prosecutor for the discussion was dated 31 st May 2019 and received the same day under number OP / SPKR / 19/030 and is not a clbadified document.

In discussions with the leaders of Parliament, the special prosecutor made it clear that no provision of the Constitution to which the president referred. L & # 39; Hon. In his letter of invitation and his observations at the meeting, the President was applicable to the accused members of Parliament
for crimes of corruption and brought before a competent court.

Determining the days on which the first-instance criminal court would conduct the trial was entirely up to the Court and not the Special Prosecutor to make a compromise in a private meeting with the leaders of Parliament.

The special prosecutor made it clear that the Bureau would abide by any court decisions on this matter, but would not agree, at a parallel meeting with the leaders of the Parliament, not to take a decision on the matter. 39 to oppose such a request if it was raised by attorneys of the accused. people in court simply because of their composition in Parliament. The Rt Hon. Certificate from the President concerning immunities and privileges granted to the Court on 4th June 2019 was published as a result of the engagement of this office with the Parliament on 3 rd June 2019 and the results are well known.

The executive and parliament have the constitutional and legal obligation to respect the independence and impartiality of the Special Prosecutor's Office, as promised to voters in the 2016 elections. Any appearance of bipartite pressure on the process The Special Prosecutor's Office makes a bad signal not only to Ghanaian citizens, but also to the international community, to whom the appearance has been given that all citizens are willing to also submit to inquiries and inquiries. prosecutions for alleged corruption and corruption offenses.

The fight against alleged corruption must be committed unreservedly by all citizens and with full commitment, in accordance with the Constitution. This is the time to move from pure form to concrete action in the fight against corruption, subject only to the respect of legality.

The special prosecutor wants to badure the Ghanaian public whose votes have informed the Bureau that he will not betray them and would withdraw from this work to satisfy any bi-partisan pressure.

The solution to exclude members of Parliament from investigation and possible prosecution of alleged corruption offenses is to remove the first special prosecutor in a bipartisan manner or to allow the appropriate independent constitutional institution to do it. This will not work to allege a long bipartisan list for the eventual prosecution of parliamentarians when no such long list exists or has been submitted by Parliament.
Office of the Special Prosecutor at any office: it does not allow the creation of a bi-partisan artificial smoke screen in order to unduly delay or flee the justice of a category of suspects accused of committing offenses of corruption.