Director of Legal Affairs for the opposition National Democratic Congress, Lawyer Abraham Amaliba, has lavished praises on the new Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng for discontinuing the case of Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga.
Mr. Ayariga was prosecuted by the first-ever Special Prosecutor of the Republic of Ghana, Martin Bens Kaiser Alamisi Amidu, on grounds that he evaded taxes as well as illegal purchasing of ‘used vehicles’ for sale.
Mr. Amidu in December 2020 decided to vacate his position, citing among other things alleged government interference in the discharge of his duties being the reason for his resignation.
But his successor, Mr. Agyebeng, on Monday, October 11, 2021, filed a Nolle Prosequi to discontinue the matter, explaining that his decision stemmed from his careful review of the evidence available to him.
He said not dropping the case would be “a complete waste of time” since the evidence was scanty.
And according to Amaliba, it was not surprising that Mr. Agyebeng would discontinue the case since there was no sufficient evidence to be adduced from it (the matter) from the onset.
He said he never doubted the credentials of the new Special Prosecutor; thereby expressing the hope that he will succeed in his task of combating corruption and corruption-related activities.
Lawyer Amalia spoke exclusively in an interview on ‘Daybreak Upper East’ show on A1 Radio.
“Even though I didn’t expect this to happen but I knew that the new Special Prosecutor, you remember all I spoke to you that even though he lacks the political clout, he was not a hawkish person and that he will only go to court on issues that he has evidence on and he was not going to be a special prosecutor who will be witch-hunting people; I made that very clear. With him going to court to as it filed a Nolle Prosequi, to me, it is not surprising to me.” Lawyer Amaliba noted.
Mr. Amaliba said although he foresaw it (discontinuation of the case) coming, he was not anticipating that there would be a new Special Prosecutor of Mr. Agyebeng’s caliber to handle the matter.
“Although the time that this case went to court I wouldn’t have known that there would be a special prosecutor of this nature who will handle the case, so didn’t know that this will be the outcome”. He added.
Asked if he expects more of Nolle Prosequi from Mr. Agyebeng relative to cases of NDC members, he said “no you shouldn’t expect more of Nolle Prosequi. The name of the game is evidence; in court, the name of the game is evidence, so once there is evidence and then you can show that the evidence points to wrongdoing on the part of the accused person, I don’t see why a special prosecutor or Attorney General will file a Nolle Prosequi. The Nolle is used sparingly, it is not used on daily basis”.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Elijah Beyeni Yenibey|Ghana
