Investigate other areas of public interest – Vitus Azeem to Special Prosecutor

Anti-Corruption crusader, Vitus Azeem, says the Special Prosecutor’s decision to investigate the 2017 to 2020 financial sector crisis amounts to double investigations as the state has already investigated the matter.

He believes the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, should focus on other areas that have not been investigated.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor in a recent statement said that full investigations have commenced into the banking sector crisis and that persons found culpable would be arrested and prosecuted.

However, Mr. Azeem says, although the banking sector crisis is a major issue that requires his attention, Ghanaians will appreciate it if he worked on other important areas that are not being investigated by any other institution.

He further called on the Special Prosecutor to update Ghanaians on investigations and prosecutions he is currently handling rather than making new promises on what he intends to do.

“If that [investigation] has been done, why has the Special Prosecutor decided to do the same thing especially when he is complaining of inadequate resources? Why don’t you go after those areas that are not being handled? He should not be raising the appetite of Ghanaians regarding what you can do. We really want to see what he is doing and not what he can do. The banking sector thing is a very big thing and in any case, it is already being handled in court so why should that be an issue now?” he quizzed.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Office of the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, said its investigations were targeting “alleged corruption and corruption-related offences perpetrated by officials of the Bank of Ghana, banks, specialised deposit-taking institutions and financial holding companies.”

The financial sector clean-up started by the government in August 2017 led to the collapse of nine universal banks, 347 microfinance companies, 39 microcredit companies or moneylenders, 15 savings and loans companies, eight finance house companies, and two non-bank financial institutions.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also announced the revocation of licenses of 53 Fund Management Companies.

A number of these institutions were found to have varying degrees of corporate governance lapses.

The total estimated cost of the state’s fiscal intervention, excluding interest payments, from 2017 to 2019 was pegged at GHS16.4 billion.