The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) announced that it was moving swiftly to reverse the April 15 ruling by the High Court, Accra (General Jurisdiction) that had taken away its prosecution authority.
It stated that the High Court lacks the authority to declare portions of a parliamentary act that creates the OSP illegal.
In a statement released soon after Justice John Nyadu Nyante’s decision, Special Prosecutor Mr. Kissi Adjabeng stated that only the Supreme Court has the authority to declare portions of an Act of Parliament illegal.
“The OSP firmly assures the public that all the criminal prosecutions it has commenced before the courts and all the criminal prosecutions it is about to commence before the courts remain valid and would proceed based on its mandate under the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959), which remains valid and in force as the matter has not been decided by the Supreme Court,” Mr Adjabeng stated.
The High Court decided on Wednesday that OSP cannot hold criminal proceedings in court without the Attorney-General’s express consent.
It then declared all of the OSP’s ongoing prosecutions to be invalid.
These directives were issued by Justice Nyante in response to a lawsuit that contested the OSP’s prosecutorial authority and resulted in a GH¢15,000 cost award against the OSP.
Seidu Issah, a National Insurance Commission (NIC) employee, and three other people were charged with crimes by the OSP in October 2023 for allegedly using forged paperwork to claim ownership of 10,000 sacks of rice that were brought into Ghana from Thailand.
The accused are presently on trial before the Criminal Division of the High Court, where the case is still pending.
The accused’s request to have the case dismissed was denied by the Criminal Court.
In a case where the plaintiff and the Attorney-General (the defendant) are contesting the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s (OSP) independent prosecutorial authority, the judge adjourned the proceedings until the Supreme Court made a decision.
Concurrently, the accused filed a different lawsuit in the High Court (General Jurisdiction 10).
Unlike the Criminal Court, the General Jurisdiction judge denied the OSP’s request to postpone proceedings until the Supreme Court’s decision.
The judge determined that there is no independent prosecutorial mandate for the OSP.
After then, the judge ordered that the Attorney-General be tasked with prosecuting the matter.
Source: newsthemegh.com