Samson Lardy Anyenini, a private legal practitioner has told Good Evening Ghana in a report monitored by GhanaWeb that the former Special Prosecutor, Martin ABK Amidu, was wrong on some of the positions taken on the Agyapa Royalties Agreement.

“Martin has his mistakes and sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that because he was the citizen vigilante, everything he does is good, everything he says is correct,” Samson Lardy Anyenini observed. “His approach to interpreting the law, that I can clearly go through and tell you he is wrong on Agyapa.”

“Having known him [Amidu] from where I came a bit closer and even reading some of the fights that he took on and his own character regarding some of the things that you don’t expect typical public servants…he demonstrates throughout the period that he is not there for the money, or what he will gain; he is there to serve the country but that doesn’t make him an epitome of the laws of this country…”

When Godfred Yeboah Dame, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice nominee appeared before the Appointments Committee, he suggested that the former Special Prosecutor was not mandated under law to present a copy of his assessment report on the Agyapa Royalties agreement to the president. He said this during his vetting by the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Friday, February 12, 2021.

During his vetting, Ranking Member Haruna Iddrisu asked him: “You are saying that the Special Prosecutor was not required to present the report to whom?”

“To the president,” Dame answered, adding that “he was not required to present the report to the president. I don’t see anywhere in ACT 959 that mandates the Special Prosecutor to present a copy of the report to the president.”

“He presented a copy of the report to the president and in doing so he himself spelt out the rationale for doing so. His letter written to the president stated that whatever he did was to guide future actions,” the former Deputy Attorney General said.

Mr Amidu on Monday, November 2, 2020, having finished a corruption-risk assessment of the transaction, submitted a report to the president.

“The analysis of the risk of corruption and anti-corruption assessment was completed and signed by the Special Prosecutor on 15 October 2020.

“The Special Prosecutor in a letter with reference number OSP/SCR/20/12/20 dated 16 October 2020 conveyed the conclusions and observations of the anti-corruption assessment to H. E. the President and the Hon. Minister of Finance as a matter of courtesy before informing the public.”

“Two weeks is more than too long for this Office to continue withholding the announcement of the completion of its sixty-four (64) page report to the public.

“It is important that this Office has the freedom to discharge its anti-corruption mandate and keep the public informed. I have, therefore, decided to bring the facts of the conclusion of the anti-corruption assessment of the Agyapa Royalties Transactions by this Office to the attention of the public and to avoid the continued speculations on this matter,” he said.

Exactly two weeks after submitting the report to the president, Mr Amidu announced his resignation from his post, citing interference by the president as one of the reasons.
He said in his resignation letter to the president: “It is essential for me to state for the purpose of the records, and contrary to public perceptions, that my appointment letter was received on 5 February 2020 (almost two (2)-years after my appointment).

“The copy addressees made no efforts to honour any of the conditions of appointment in terms of emoluments and benefits of the appointment ever since my warrant of appointment was issued on 23 February 2018 to the date of my letter of resignation. The Deputy Special Prosecutor has also not been paid any emoluments since her appointment, and there is the need to redress that situation for her now that I am out of the way.

“The events of 12 November 2020 removed the only protection I had from the threats and plans directed at me for undertaking the Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions anti-corruption assessment report and dictates that I resign as the Special Prosecutor immediately.

“I should not ordinarily be announcing my resignation to the public myself but the traumatic experience I went through from 20 October 2020 to 2 November 2020 when I conveyed in a thirteen (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.