Today In History: Exactly One Year Ago Today, Martin Amidu Resigned As Special Prosecutor

Exactly one year ago today, Mr. Martin ABK Amidu resigned as Special Prosecutor, claiming that President Akufo-Addo and his government had sought to obstruct him from effectively carrying out a corruption risk assessment in the infamous Agyapa deal.

The former Attorney General wrote to the President Nana Akufo-Addo Monday 16th November 2020 saying his decision is to enable his appointing authority “to take steps to appoint a replacement to that position as required by law.”

“This is to inform the public that I resigned from my position as the Special Prosecutor of the Office of the Special Prosecutor with immediate effect upon the submission of my letter of resignation with reference number OSP/2/AM/14 dated November 16, 2020, which was received at the Office of the President at 15:15 HRS this afternoon,” he said in his letter to the President.

“I should not ordinarily be announcing my resignation to the public myself but the traumatic experience I went through from October 20, 2020, to November 2, 2020, when I conveyed in a 13-page letter the conclusions and observations on the analysis of the risk of corruption and anti-corruption assessment on the Report On Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions and Other Matters Related Thereto to the President as Chairman of the National Security Council cautions against not bringing my resignation as the Special Prosecutor with immediate to the notice of the Ghanaian public and the world,” Mr Amidu said.

According to the man popularly known as Citizen Vigilante, he claimed, “In undertaking the analysis of the risk of prevention of corruption and anti-corruption assessment I sincerely believed that I was executing an independent mandate under the Office of the Special Prosecutor, Act, 2017 (Act 959) and the Office of the Special Prosecutor (Operations) Regulations, 2018 (L. I. 2374).

“The reaction I received for daring to produce the Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions anti-corruption report convinces me beyond any reasonable doubt that I was not intended to exercise any independence as the Special Prosecutor in the prevention, investigation, prosecution, and recovery of assets of corruption. My position as the Special Prosecutor has consequently become clearly untenable.”

The Office of the President in the subsequent days released a statement, clarifying their own version of events.

Mr. Kissi Agyebeng, the current occupant of the office was later nominated to fill the void created by Amidu’s departure.

Source: GhanaFeed.Com