By: Deborah Amewoyi
Former finance minister, Ken Ofori Atta has officially been declared a fugitive by the office of the special prosecutor over failure to return to the country for questioning regarding investigations conducted by the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng.
The office of the Special Prosecutor has incriminated Mr. Ofori -Atta with questionable contracts between Strategic Mobilization Ghana Limited and the Ghana Revenue Authority, alleged corruption in the National Cathedral project and the controversy over ambulance purchases for the National Ambulance Service.
Meanwhile the OSP has rejected offers made by lawyers of the former finance minister to cooperate with the investigations virtually thereby demanding the physical presence of Ken Ofori – Atta within a time frame to proceed with the investigations.
The former finance minister’s failure to return to the country for questioning warranted the need to be declared wanted by the OSP.
In a significant development, the OSP has denied allegations tying him to a military raid in the former finance minister’s cantonents residence.
The special prosecutor has stated categorically he has no hands in the raid that occurred. “We have our unique methods of searches that are specifically designed to identify ourselves, not just by stating that we are from the OSP” he clarified.
The special prosecutor believes that raid was either to discredit the OSP or to impede ongoing investigations . “Our intelligence points us to state that the purported raid of Mr. Ofori-Atta’s residence was staged or, at best, an imposter action in an attempt to cause disfavor for the OSP and to derail the investigation” he added.
Meanwhile, reports have indicated that the finance minister has been receiving treatments in the United States of America since the beginning of the year.
