Martin Amidu Takes A Bow, Directly Accuses Akufo OF Agyapa Corruption Cover-Up

In a move that has indicted the corruption-prone Akufo Addo administration, Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu has been forced to resign, saying he was appalled by the attempt to arm-twist him from taking action against the fraudulent multi-billion-dollar Agyapa Royalties transaction.

The frustrated Amidu was being asked directly by President Akufo Addo as a “Poodle” to tone down on his plan to go after the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta after his October 16, 2020 “Risk of Corruption and Anti-Corruption Assessment” of the Agyapa deal revealed massive corruption, blatant breach of the procurement law and the use of obscure companies to front for the personal interest of the Ken Ofori-Atta, a nephew to President Akufo Addo.

He accused President Akufo Addo of acting as “a judge in your own cause in usurping my functions”, when the President realised the serious indictment on his government in the Agyapa transaction.

“But your reaction to my letter with reference number OSP/SCR/20/12/20 dated 16th October 2020 which was delivered to you on 19th October 2020 conveying to you the conclusions and observations of the analysis of the risk of corruption and anti-corruption assessment of the Agyapa Royalties Limited Transaction convinces me beyond every reasonable doubt that you had laboured under the mistaken belief that I could hold the Office of the Special Prosecutor as your poodle,” Amidu jabbed President Akufo Addo in his resignation letter addressed to the President, today, November 16, 2020.

The damning content of Mr. Amidu’s resignation letter has reinforced widely-held suspicions that the Jubilee House and the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta had direct interest in the Agyapa deal.

According to Martin Amidu whose woeful performance as Special Prosecutor has earned him the derogatory title: “Toothless bulldog”, President Akufo Addo’s level of attempt to cover-up the stinking implications of the Agyapa deal had caused him [Amidu] “traumatic experience”

Amidu narrated how immediately President Akufo Addo received the corruption assessment report on October 19, 2020, he had desperately asked the Chief of Staff, Frema Opare to chase him down to stop any potential action that Amidu might be planning to take against the serious fraud unearthed in the Agyapa deal.

“After receiving my letter under reference on 19th October 2020, you ordered your Chief of Staff on 20th October 2020 to deliver an urgent message personally to me the same day. When she could not reach me on telephone, she decided to invite me in writing,” Amidu narrated.

According to him, when the Chief of Staff finally tracked him down, “The message she delivered to me was that you had instructed that I was not to do anything about my report on the Agyapa Royalties Transaction until I had met you on Friday 23rd October 2020.”

In a serious indictment of President Akufo Addo, Amidu said, he met the President in his office on October 23, 2020 and the President was attempting to push him to accept a review of the report by his nephew and Finance Minister Ofori-Atta whom the report had indicted in the first place.

“I underscored the fact that the analysis of the corruption and anti-corruption assessment was conducted professionally, it could not be reviewed by the Minister of Finance or yourself, and my letter was particularly not intended for you to direct me as to how to conduct the duties of my office. Your Excellency insisted that I should withhold any further action on the report for one week. I reluctantly agreed to your terms but gave you notice immediately that I did not intend to continue as the Special Prosecutor because of your interference in the performance of my functions under the law.

Amidu went on to narrate how President Akufo Addo had invited him again outside official hours, on the evening of Sunday November 1, 2020, to bargain with the SP once more over the Agyapa report, as the President tried to persuade him to incorporate a review of the report by the main culprit fingered for corruption in the report-Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.

“I refused to take the copy of the alleged comments from the Minister of Finance you offered me, as that would have compromised my independence as the Special Prosecutor. I also refused to shelve my report to enable you to handle the matter which explains my press release to the public on the morning of 2nd November 2020…,” Amidu recounted.

“It thus became abundantly clear to me that I cannot continue under your Government as Special Prosecutor because we disagree on the non-partisan independent of the Special Prosecutor in the performance of the functions of my Office”

In the said corruption assessment report on the Agyapa deal, the Special Prosecutor had hinted at the need for criminal investigations to be launched against Ken Ofori-Atta for the clear acts of conflict of interest in securing the Agyapa deal for his private company, Databank Financial Services Limited.

It revealed how Ken Ofori-Atta had paid some US$ 4 million to his own company which had contracted a South African company, Imara Corporate Finance Pty to front for Databank as a “decoy”.

The Special Prosecutor exposed illegal payments, some in the form of money laundering, that Ken Ofori-Atta had made to Imara, and other service providers, charging that those movement of funds warrant investigations for corruption.

The Finance Minister through his other corrupt parley at the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), A.B Adjei, had had rigged the bidding that saw Imara emerge successful as the main transaction advisor for the Agyapa deal. Unbeknownst to the Ghanaian public, Imara was just fronting for Mr. Ofori-Atta.

Amidu’s resignation has dealt a massive blow to the Akufo Addo administration which has been accused of corruption and an attempt to whitewash the Special Prosecutor’s office.