‘I will come after you if there are allegations against you; I won't sleep over it’ — Kissi Agyabeng on Prof. Frimpong arrest

The Special Prosecutor of Ghana Kissi Agyebeng has said allegations of corrupt practices won’t be ignored as far as the Office of the Special Prosecutor exists.

Mr. Kissi Agyebeng was speaking in relation to the recent arrest of former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation Professor Frimpong-Boateng over corruption-related offences at the now defunct Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining.

Speaking on the issue on JoyNews on June 10, Kissi Agyebeng stated emphatically any issue of allegations of a public officer warrants his attention.

“We all know how this Galamsey issue has been such a menace and such a pain to us, and we want it resolved, and we all know at some point the sitting President set up a committee to deal with this thing which we all know as the Inter-Ministerial Committee against Illegal Mining, now we all also know that at some point due to the problem associated with it, it was disbanded, it was dissolved, so the problems were still live and all over the place," he stated.

According to him, there have been damning allegations against members of the now defunct Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining.

"Now in our case there’s been allegations against these officers who sat at that Inter-Ministerial Committee, the head of the committee, the secretary to the committee, and then other officers and then the dealings of the committee where interfacing with those who were being accused of being in the business or adventure of illegal mining and so this is the point we are coming from. Now if there are accusations against you, that you seize excavators and you are unable to account for it, I won't sleep over it, I will come after you, now if there are allegations against you, that you seized Gold nuggets and as a public officer you pocketed it, I won’t sleep over it. If there are allegations that you mismanaged the resources of the committee, I won’t sleep over it, I will come after you, at the end of the day if I weigh the evidence against you and at the conclusion there is nothing to it, then I let go but in the middle of the investigation or the course of the investigation I treat everyone the same,” Mr Kissi Agyebeng stated.

Professor Frimpong Boateng was arrested over corruption allegations of his role as chairman of the defunct Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining.

He was granted a GH¢2 million bail after his arrest three weeks ago by the Office of the Special Prosecutor without any charges.