The Member of Parliament for Yendi, Hon. Abdul-Fataw Alhassan, has clarified that despite the impatience from the public concerning the cases of Operation Recover All Loots (ORAL), the Attorney General has to allow due process to take its course.
The Member of Parliament for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) noted that even though he admits that the impatience of the public is justified, he does believe that the attorney general should have to do his own investigations, despite the investigations of the ORAL team.
Questioned as to why the slow pace from the office of the Attorney General with regard to the cases of the government’s anti-corruption policy (ORAL), Hon. Alhassan stated that “it is actually in full swing,” emphasizing the need for due diligence from the side of the Attorney General.
He emphasized that when it comes to legal process, the prosecutor in charge must have the benefit of its own investigation findings or investigation findings that it can attest to by way of having supervised the said investigations.
The Member of Parliament noted that even though the ORAL team may have done its own investigations and handed it over to the Attorney General through the president, he is still of the view that it will be “a recipe for disaster” should the Attorney General take those documents to court without conducting its own investigations.
“As a lawyer, if I see any Attorney General taking a report by another body, which has done its investigation, which body I did not have supervision over, and I didn’t provide that investigation, and I don’t know how they did the investigation, I am just taking that report, and you expect them to just take it and run to court as attorney general?
Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Hon, Dr. Dominic Akuritinga Ayine
“That would be a very disastrous step to take, and so with the lawyers we understand this work, and so when I see the Attorney General taking his time to do some of this, I know he is doing what is in line with due process.”
– Hon. Abdul-Fataw Alhassan, Member of Parliament for Yendi
He, however, noted that the public will not understand things that way, as they believe that since the ORAL team already did some investigations, then it should not take the Attorney General any long time to prosecute those who allegedly looted state resources.
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Hon. Alhassan admitted that his convictions with the level of the work being done by the Attorney General are not to dismiss nor undermine the impatience of the public because he is fully aware of the genesis of the said impatience.
He further admitted that with the pronouncement of the ORAL team with respect to their findings and the sums of money that were said to be recoverable from alleged state looters, it is not out of place for the public to be impatient.
“I am not condemning the public for their impatience. I truly associate myself, and I accept the fact that the public is justified in their concerns. But we also still have to explain to them as a government that the fact that AG has been given a report does not mean that AG should just rush to court.”
Hon. Abdul-Fataw Alhassan, Member of Parliament for Yendi
The member of parliament further noted that in the Ghanaian criminal jurisprudence, investigation is the most important thing.
“In our criminal jurisprudence, the investigation process is as crucial as a trial. It’s at the heart of everything. So, if somebody else does his investigations and brings you a report, and you get up and run to court, and you have not questioned anything, the mode of investigation that went into the generation of the report, you are heading for a serious disaster.”
Hon. Abdul-Fataw Alhassan, Member of Parliament for Yendi
Hon. Alhassan makes the point that it is better to hasten slowly and do the work very well, adding that the Attorney General must have to follow due process to avoid legal missteps.
He therefore cautioned that since it is the Attorney General that is prosecuting and not the ORAL team, then the Attorney General should be given room to do his investigations and go to court with findings that he is satisfied with.
