Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Dr Justice Srem-Sai has rejected claims of tension between the Attorney-General’s Department and the Office of the Special Prosecutor, describing as false any suggestion that the OSP sought collaboration with his office and was turned away.
Speaking to reporters at the Supreme Court following the ruling dismissing the injunction application in the Skytrain trial, Dr Srem-Sai addressed questions about the relationship between the two offices directly, framing the Attorney-General’s position as one of statutory obligation rather than institutional rivalry.
Dr Srem-Sai opened by dismissing the premise of tension outright. “There hasn’t been any tension between OSP as far as the Attorney-General is concerned,” he said, adding that his boss, Attorney-General Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, has no desire to struggle with anyone over jurisdiction or responsibility.
He said Ayine’s consistent instruction to his office is to fight crime properly, respecting the rights of accused persons and avoiding improper means to secure convictions. “Fight crime fairly, so that people who have truly committed crime will be convicted and people who are innocent will be let go,” he said.
One Agency Among Several
Dr Srem-Sai placed the OSP within a much wider field of institutions that work alongside the Attorney-General’s Department, naming the Narcotics Control Commission, Immigration, the Police and the Bureau of National Investigations as examples of agencies the department has collaborated with for decades.
“Why should there be some particular tension between them and us?” he asked, arguing that the OSP is simply another agency created by legislation to fight crime, treated no differently from the others.
He was direct about where he believes any friction actually originates. “If there’s any tension, not from our side, probably from the other side, that’s the OSP,” he said.
Dr Srem-Sai grounded his position in the constitutional status of the Attorney-General as the country’s Chief Law Enforcement Officer, describing that office as the first authority to determine which crimes should be prosecuted and pursued.
He said his office’s relationship with the OSP follows the same pattern as its relationship with every other crime-fighting agency.
“If there’s any need to give them any direction, we would. If there’s any need to help them do something, we would,” he said, while rejecting the specific framing that the OSP had approached his office seeking collaboration and been refused. “The allegation is false,” he said.
No Discretion, Only Obligation
Asked directly whether the Attorney-General’s office would always be ready to welcome the OSP in every matter, Dr Srem-Sai reframed the question around legal obligation rather than willingness.
“We don’t have a choice. It’s not even about being ready to welcome. We are bound, as the Office of the Attorney-General, to make sure that all the agencies that are fighting crime do their work, and do their work properly.”
Dr Justice Srem Sai, Deputy Attorney General and Minister for Justice
He described both his office and the OSP as creatures of statute, bound entirely by what the law permits and requires rather than by personal preference. “The law determines our place in the greater scheme of things,” he said. “It is not about individual preferences or individual desires as to what you want to do.”
Dr Srem-Sai closed by pointing to the legal system itself as the appropriate channel for any grievance against his office’s conduct, rather than public claims of obstruction.
He said that because both offices operate as creatures of statute, the law provides avenues for any party who believes the Attorney-General’s Department has acted wrongly to challenge that conduct formally.
He reiterated that the specific claim of a rebuffed collaboration attempt does not reflect what actually occurred. “There’s absolutely nothing to it,” he said. “It’s false when someone says that they have been trying to collaborate with us.”
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