Former Attorney-General Martin Amidu has challenged the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to provide a detailed account of its handling of the Asante Kwaku Berko-AKSA Ghana bribery case, questioning what investigative actions have been taken since the case was opened in April 2020.
In an open letter, Mr Amidu said the OSP should be able to demonstrate, through its official records, the progress made on the investigation over the past six years.
He said records such as the Station Diary and Diary of Action contained in the investigation docket should provide a clear trail of the steps taken by investigators since the case was initiated.
Mr Amidu’s demand follows comments by Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng that the OSP collaborated with United States authorities in the investigation that resulted in the conviction of former Goldman Sachs executive Asante Kwaku Berko in the US.
According to Mr Amidu, if the OSP was actively collaborating with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), there should be a continuing case docket documenting the agency’s involvement and investigative activities.
“I have stated in a previous article that the OSP started investigations into the Asante Kwaku Berko-AKSA-Ghana Bribery deal in April 2020,” he said.
He questioned why the matter had not featured prominently among the OSP’s pending investigations over the years and raised concerns about what he described as the disappearance of the case from the office’s public investigative record.
Mr Amidu also disputed the OSP’s assertion that it had been “actively and carefully investigating the Ghanaian dimension” of the matter.
He described the claim as false and challenged the Special Prosecutor to substantiate it with evidence of the work undertaken since the investigation was opened.
The former Attorney-General said the key issue was not merely the eventual conviction of Mr Berko in the United States but the extent to which Ghanaian authorities pursued the local dimension of the allegations.
He therefore called on the OSP to explain what happened to the investigation it allegedly commenced in 2020 and identify the actions taken before and after the US conviction.
Mr Amidu argued that a clear account of the investigative process would help address questions surrounding the OSP’s handling of the case and demonstrate whether the office had exercised its mandate effectively.
His call places renewed attention on the accountability of Ghana’s anti-corruption institutions and the need for transparency in the management of long-running investigations, particularly cases involving alleged corruption with international dimensions.
