SPECIAL PROSECUTOR CONS PUBLIC ABOUT POWER TO DEFREEZE BANK ACCOUNTS AND ASSETS
SPECIAL PROSECUTOR IS CONNING PUBLIC BY PURPORTING TO DEFREEZE BANK ACCOUNTS AND ASSETS IN APPLICATION PENDING BEFORE COURT
BY MARTIN A. B. K. AMIDU
I could not believe my eyes when I read on Ghana Web the Special Prosecutor’s attempt to con the media and the public by assuming the power to de-freeze five (5) bank accounts out of a number of bank accounts contained in his own application pending in the High Court (Financial and Economic Crime Division 2) in the Special Prosecutor v Cecilia Abena Dapaah filed on 11 September 2023 for an order or orders confirming his administrative freezing of named bank accounts in addition to other reliefs. The Respondents filed their affidavit in opposition on 5 October 2023. I was, therefore, amazed to notice that the Special Prosecutor was continuing his trial of Cecilia Abena Dapaah in the court of public opinion by again publishing for media and public consumption and deception that:
"On 16 October 2023 the Special Prosecutor revoked the freezing order in respect of the eliminated five (5) bank accounts of Ms. Dapaah. The freezing order is still in force and effect in respect of the other bank accounts and financial assets of Ms. Dapaah."
The five (5) banks accounts from the media reportage were part of the bank accounts that the High Court in its ruling dated 31 August 2023 declined to grant an order or orders confirming the administrative freezing by the Special Prosecutor in July 2023. The five bank accounts are also still part of the bank accounts in the Special Prosecutor’s pending application filed on 11 September 2023 on which issues had been joined with the Respondents and which the High Court set down for hearing on 12 October 2023. The hearing on 12 October 2023 was deliberately aborted by the Special Prosecutor’s petition submitted to the Chief Justice on the same day objecting to the court and the judge hearing all the cases. The application filed on 11 September 2023 is accordingly sub judice.
The issue of whether the frozen bank accounts should or should not be de-frozen has also become sub judice before the High Court. The proper procedure for the Special Prosecutor to have followed to have the five (5) bank accounts de-frozen at this stage of the proceedings was to apply to the court to order the de-freezing of those five (5) bank accounts and to order the hearing on the remaining bank accounts to continue. The lawyers for Cecilia Abena Dapaah in accordance with the due process of law are entitled to a hearing on the reasons contained in the application of the Special Prosecutor for the de-freezing of those five (5) bank accounts to ensure that there were valid grounds for the prior administrative freezing by the Special Prosecutor and to argue also whether the hearing on the remaining bank accounts ought to be ordered to continue. The motives of the Special Prosecutor for petitioning the Chief Justice that aborted the 12 October 2023 court hearing are now open to legitimate speculation by rational citizens in the light of the 16 October 2023 developments under discussion.
Kissi Agyebeng is running away with his tail between his legs from the adversarial process of the High Court even in matters which are sub judice. The proper forum for a competent and an experienced Special Prosecutor to state why the five (5) bank accounts should be de-frozen when the matter is already in court, is before the High Court and not in the media to con the unsuspecting public. Cecilia Abena Dapaah’s lawyers should pursue the abuse of the process of the court entailed in the Special Prosecutor’s conduct to hold him accountable in open court after the petition has been dealt with by the Chief Justice’s directives and the substantive case filed on 11September 2023 comes on for hearing.
Mr. Kissi Agyebeng needs to be reminded that the public office of Special Prosecutor is not akin to his former status as counsel for the anti-corruption entrepreneurial Tiger Eye PI where no law governs its operations.
Martin A. B. K. Amidu
16 October 2023