You can’t freeze Sir John’s assets – Court tells OSP

The Office of the Special Prosecutor says it will appeal an Accra High Court ruling preventing it from freezing the assets of late Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie (Sir John), former CEO of the Forestry Commission.

The Special Prosecutor had frozen the assets of Sir John for further investigation over suspected corruption.

The OSP filed an application at the court for confirmation of the freezing order but the application was today, Tuesday, July 12, 2022, dismissed by an Accra High Court presided over by Her Ladyship, Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe.

The OSP in a statement said the judge misunderstood freezing Sir John’s assets to confiscation of his assets and, thus, will appeal the ruling.

Below is the full press statement issued by the OSP on Tuesday July 12:

ESTATE OF KWADWO OWUSU-AFRIYIE ALIAS SIR JOHN

On 30 May 2022 the Special Prosecutor directed the freezing of the Estate of Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie alias Sir John (deceased), the former Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission. On 9 June 2022 the Special Prosecutor applied to the High Court for a confirmation of the freezing order. On 12 July 2022 the High Court, presided over by Her Ladyship Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe, inexplicably dismissed the application.

The judge, with respect, totally misapprehended the application for confirmation of the freezing order and misdirected herself by characterizing the application as that of a confiscation order, which regimes are governed by different considerations. The regime for an application for confirmation of a freezing order is designed to facilitate an investigation or a prosecution to avoid dissipation of the property in question. While a confiscation order is designed to permanently deprive the owner of the property. The Special Prosecutor asked for the freezing order to be confirmed to facilitate the investigation into the circumstances of the purported acquisition by the deceased of protected lands in the Achimota Forest enclave and the Sakumono Ramsar site. The Special Prosecutor did not apply for confiscation of the estate of the deceased.

On this reckoning, the Special Prosecutor has directed the filing of an appeal against  the ruling of Her Ladyship Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe. The net effect of the ruling of the High Court is that a person may, in his lifetime, gleefully acquire property through corruption and then upon his demise happily pass on the corruptly acquired property to his beneficiaries for their benefit and by so doing, extinguish all scrutiny as to the propriety or otherwise of the acquisition of the property because his corrupt activities were not discovered during his lifetime. If this decision is left to stand, the Republic will lose the fight against corruption in unimaginable ways. The investigations into the estate of Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie alias Sir John will still proceed.

SIGNED

Kissi Agyabeng

Special Prosecutor

 

Source: Classfmonline.com