'There will be some interesting cases coming soon' - Deputy AG Justice Srem-Sai
Deputy Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, has hinted that more high-profile prosecutions under the government's Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) initiative will soon be filed, revealing that the Attorney General's Office has identified about 30 cases considered suitable for prosecution.
Speaking on TV3's Hot Issues on Sunday, July 27, Dr Srem-Sai said prosecutors are preparing another batch of cases for court before the start of the new legal year in October.
“There will be some interesting cases coming soon,” he said, while declining to disclose the identities of those who may be charged.
According to him, the Attorney General's Office selected the cases after conducting a thorough review of investigation dockets submitted under the ORAL initiative.
“When we analysed the report, I think we had about 30 cases that we thought were prosecutable,” he stated.
Dr Srem-Sai disclosed that between five and 10 of the cases have already been filed and are at advanced stages before the courts.
“We have like, I think we are between five and 10 now... advanced stages,” he said.
He added that more prosecutions would commence during the legal vacation ahead of the reopening of the courts for the new legal year.
“We have other dockets already. But we are going to start with them, either during the vacation, the legal vacation; we are going to start new cases,” he noted.
The Deputy Attorney General stressed that the Office remains committed to pursuing every ORAL-related case that satisfies the legal threshold for prosecution.
“We will continue what we have done. We are going to continue prosecuting. As far as the ORAL is concerned, we are going to do it,” he said.
Dr Srem-Sai explained that decisions on which cases to prosecute are guided strictly by the available evidence and not by the prominence of suspects or public interest.
“When we work, we don't actually focus on which one is big or which one is that. We focus on which one is prosecutable,” he said.
Providing updates on ongoing prosecutions, Dr Srem-Sai said the prosecution has closed its case in the SkyTrain trial and is awaiting the next phase after the accused persons failed to file their witness statements within the period directed by the court.
“SkyTrain, we have closed our case. The two accused persons were supposed to file their witness statements... As of this morning, they have not filed anything... We are going back to court tomorrow,” he disclosed.
He also announced that the prosecution is close to concluding its case against the former Director-General of the National Signals Bureau, Kwabena Adu-Boahene.
According to him, the prosecution's fourth witness is still testifying and is expected to complete evidence either this week or next week.
“Our fourth witness is in the box and we hope that by this week or next week he would have been discharged. When that happens... we have closed our case,” he said.
On the investigative report submitted by former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, concerning illegal mining, Dr Srem-Sai said the Attorney General's Office has requested further investigations before deciding whether prosecutions should be initiated.
“We have received investigative reports. We have made further directions to investigate this with other evidence for us to form an opinion on it,” he explained.
He noted that investigators are routinely asked to address gaps in evidence before prosecutors determine whether a case is ready for court.
“The investigators bring the first report. We look at it, we find gaps. We ask them to fill the gaps and then bring them back until we are certain that we have filled all the gaps. Then we take the step to go and prosecute,” he said.
The latest update comes months after Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, disclosed in February that his office was reviewing 16 ORAL investigation dockets and had directed investigators to obtain additional evidence where necessary before any decision to prosecute.
Dr Ayine also stated at the time that no plea bargain or negotiations had been entered into with persons implicated in the ORAL investigations.