The Office of the Special Prosecutor has invited Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng over his leaked report that indicted top government officials in the illegal mining business.
Frimpong-Boateng was the head of the defunct Inter-ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) and in a 36-page report to the Office of the President indicated that high-profile government officials, presidential staffers, security officials and MPs are involved in illegal mining or are interfering in the fight against the problem.
A press release issued on Thursday (4 May) by Frimpong-Boateng acknowledged the invitation of the special prosecutor.
“Earlier today, I received a letter from the Office of the Special Prosecutor inviting me to assist the office ‘as a person necessary for the investigation’ into suspected corruption and corruption-related offences in respect of the activities and expenditure of the dissolved Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM),” the statement said.
“I have formally communicated my willingness to attend the invitation and to support the OSP in its work,” it added.
Denial
Those implicated including Information minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko and the political advisor to the chief of staff Frank Asiedu Bekoe alias Protozoa have all denied the allegations.
Otchere-Darko has filed a GHC10 million defamation suit against Frimpong-Boateng over the issue.
He is also demanding an apology and a retraction of the words written by Professor Frimpong-Boateng (the defendant) about his person.
Otchere-Darko is also praying the court to restrain Frimpong-Boateng, his servants, agents or assigns through a perpetual injunction from repeating similar or other defamatory words against him.
Alleged defamatory words
Frimpong-Boateng, in a leaked report dated 19 March 2021 and addressed to Akosua Osei Opare, the Chief of Staff in the Office of the President, made several allegations against present and past government officials as well as private persons, accusing them of being responsible for the inability of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) to fight illegal mining in Ghana between January 2017 and January 2021.
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has also begun investigation into the case after receiving a petition by opposition MP, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, to investigate the case.
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