Although the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has enormous powers under the Act that established it, the Office must exercise those powers in ways that inspire confidence in the general public, a private legal practitioner Kwame Jantuah has said.
Mr Jantuah was commenting on the arrest of Former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng.
The renowned heart surgeon was put under investigation following an invitation given to him by the Office weeks ago.
He was invited on corruption and corruption-related activities, particularly over his report on the dissolved Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM).
He was also arrested for alleged involvement in the missing of some 500 excavators and the involvement Symphony Limited, the company owned by his son, in illegal mining.
He was immediately granted bail of GH¢2 million after his purported arrest.
Speaking in an interview with Media General‘s Alfred Ocansey in an exclusive interview on Wednesday, June 7 he said he found the arrest on Tuesday, May 16 “strange”, especially given the circumstances prior to its effect.
“We waited at the lobby down there [and] that was my first time in that building. We got there around 10 o’clock, waiting for my lawyer. When he came, we were taken upstairs to the 7th Floor or so, where the office is and then we were ushered into a room. I was given a chair and opposite me was the Chief Investigator. Next to me on my right were my two lawyers and then some officers from that Office.
“So, as soon as I sat down, the Chief Investigator came to me. I was sitting down [then] he put his left hand on my right shoulder and said, ‘Professor, you are under arrest’. Why? He said they are investigating corruption and corruption-related activities of the IMCIM that I was chairman of. Any specific thing I had done? No, they are just doing their investigations but all the same I was under arrest. I found it very strange.”
Commenting on this matter on the Big Issue on TV3 Friday, June 9, Mr Jantuah said “The Office of the Special Prosecutor has huge powers under the Act but the Special Prosecutor must use it such that people will have confidence in him. He arrested Frimpong-Boateng but did he charge him? No. So what is the sense of this arrest?
“Frimpong-Boateng is no ordinary gentleman, some respect should be shown to him, they could have given him self-recognizance bail.”