I was not involved in the Agyapa deal - Kissi Agyebeng
The Special Prosecutor nominee Mr Kissi Agyebeng has denied allegations that he was involved in the Agyapa Royalties deal.
According to him, the suggestion that he is the surrogate of a law firm that was involved in the transaction came from an uninformed position.
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Responding to a question by Builsa North MP, Mr James Agalga, Mr Agyebeng said the allegations are inaccurate.
"Whoever says I am a surrogate of a law firm or implicates me in the Agyapa transaction clearly does not know me. Because, if you know me you wouldn't make such allegations," Mr Agyebeng told Parliament’s Appointment Committee today.
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"And so all these things that came up, came from uninformed positions cos (sic) I was not involved in the Agyapa transaction in any form or manner or any stretch of the imagination, however fertile.
"As for relationships, as I just disclosed, the fact that I was so close to you at some point in our lives, will not give you a free pass because of that relationship and that is why I am here".
He stressed that if he was given approval as Special Prosecutor he will investigate all persons irrespective of his personal relationships with them.
"The truth of the matter, ought to be told, I wasn't involved in the deal, I was nowhere near it. Indeed, until it started coming up, I didn't even know what it was, for the record, that is the truth. And so, for the record I am no one's surrogate, I am my own man and I prefer to wear my own shoes".
It will be recalled that in April this year, the former Special Prosecutor described Mr Agyebeng as a surrogate of people who defended the controversial Agyapa Mineral royalties deal.
In an article, Mr Amidu said: "anybody deeply knowledgeable about the Agyapa Royalties Transaction Corruption Risk Assessment report which resulted in my eventual resignation as the first Special Prosecutor knows that one of the beneficiaries of the Agyapa Royalties Transaction is Africa Legal Associates whose contract to participate in the transaction was found to be contrary to the Public Procurement Act and tainted by bid rigging."
"Until 20th March 2020 Agyapa Royalties Limited was incorporated as Asaase Royalties Limited on 5th November 2019 in Jersey, the United Kingdom. Anybody who cares to know, knows that the alter ego of Africa Legal Associates is a cousin of the President who also established Asaase Radio which began official transmission on 14th June 2020."
"The Agyapa Royalties Transaction records show the role the President’s cousin who established Africa Legal Associates, and Asaase Radio played with White & Case LLP, of London, one of the foreign law firms in the suspected corruption transaction."
Mr Amidu suggested in his write-up that President Akufo-Addo was being pressurized to announce "their preferred choice as the Special Prosecutor."
"Asaase Radio appears to have been so bent on pressurizing the President to announce their preferred choice as the Special Prosecutor (the Agyapa Special Prosecutor) that it forgot that the nomination letter by the Attorney-General was addressed only to the President. How then did the nomination letter of a new Special Prosecutor come into the public domain to make the rounds in the press?"
"Asaase Radio should also have told the Ghanaian and international public that its surrogate and nominee Special Prosecutor in the published letter is a personal friend and classmate of the Attorney General, and the owner of Asaase Radio all of whom attended the University of Ghana’s Faculty of Law, and Ghana Law School."
The government suspended the launch of the Initial Public Offer (IPO) of the Agyapa Royalties deal on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in October 2020.
