Ken Ofori Atta sues OSP for declaring him wanted and fugitive

 

Former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has sued the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) for declaring him wanted and fugitive.

Mr. Ofori-Atta said the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has no statutory powers to use Media Briefing to declare a person WANTED or “fugitive from justice.

Adding that the OSP has no powers other than what is provided for the Police to declare a person wanted and the same cannot be done without leave of the Court.

“The Office of the Special Prosecutor, in exercising the powers of the Police as provided for under Section 28 of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959), and the Office of the Special Prosecutor (Operations) Regulations, 2018 (L.I. 2374), is bound by the limits placed on the exercise of discretionary power as enshrined in the Service. Instructions of the Police Service, under Article 200, and consistent with Article 296 of the Constitution 1992.” Part of the lawsuit read.

He continued that “the unlawful declaration of the Applicant as “WANTED” or “fugitive from justice” constitutes violation of his right of personal liberty as enshrined in Articles 14 of the 1992 Constitution; and right of free movement enshrined in Article 21 of the 1992 Constitution, Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Right (ICCPR) as well as Article 12 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (AfCHPR).

And that “any act of the Office of the Special Prosecutor as a State Agency that violates the Applicant’s human rights will amount to a breach of Ghana’s international treaty obligations under the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”

Ken Ofori-Atta is seeking that the court should order the OSP to:

1. For the immediate removal of the photograph and details of the Applicant from the WANTED LIST on the website of the OSP.

2. For payment of compensation of (a) unlawfully declaring the Applicant WANTED, (b) Unlawful publication on the OSP’s website  that the Applicant is a WANTED person and (c) Keeping the Applicant’s photograph and details on its website as a WANTED PERSON contrary to the content of its letter of 18th February to the Applicant.

3. Directing the Office of the Special Prosecutor to respond by letter as required by law to all the letters of the Applicant’s Solicitor that remain outstanding.

4. Directing the OSP to list documents that it may require from the Applicant for investigations and serve the same on the Solicitors of the Applicant for them to furnish some pending return of the Applicant into the Jurisdiction.

5. Of injunction restraining the Office of the Special Prosecutor from  carrying out its threat in the Press Release issued on 18th of February, 2025, of repeating the unlawful re-entering the Applicant’s name as a Wanted Person or Declaring him a ‘Fugitive from justice.

Source: Elvisanokyenews.net