Former Special Prosecutor Martin A.B.K Amidu has described the Agyapa Royalties deal as the mother of all corruption since Ghana gained independence in 1957.
This is captured in his latest epistle in response to the presidency’s comment after accepting his (Amidu’s) resignation weeks back.
Mr Amidu resigned from his position as Ghana’s first Special Prosecutor on November 16, 2020.
In his resignation letter, he cited amongst other things political interference from the president as a reason for his decision. He accused the President of interfering in his work with regards to the Agyapa deal and wanted him to ‘shelve’ the report.
In accepting Mr. Amidu’s resignation, President Akufo-Addo denied ever interfering in his work and rather said he gave him all the assistance and independence to operate.
But in a 27-page response to the Presidency, the citizen vigilante said; “I have underscored the deliberate distortions and manipulations of facts contained in the opening paragraphs of your letter written to me on the directives and instructions of the President to demonstrate that your letter to me from its inception was intended to be the personification of falsehoods to the good people of Ghana and to divert public attention from a very important and serious anti-corruption assessment in respect of the Agyapa Royalties Limited Transaction documents report which I conducted professionally as the first Special Prosecutor of Ghana.”
“The Agyapa Royalties Limited Transaction contains the mother of all suspended corruption and corruption-related offences to be discovered in the first analysis of the risk of the prevention of corruption and anti-corruption assessment since Ghana attained its independence in 1957,” Amidu stated.
To him, the President Akufo-Addo can best pass for the kingpin of corruption, and indicted the latter for taking the presidential “oath while looking like the innocent flower of anti-corruption but being the mother serpent of corruption under it.”
“I resigned my position as the Special Prosecutor because of the traumatic experience I suffered from the reaction of the President who breached his Presidential oath by unlawfully obstructing me from taking any further steps on the Agyapa Royalties Transactions from 20th October 2020 to 1 November 2020.”
“When I met the President on 23rd October 2020, I received the shock of my life when he demanded that I took no further action on the Agyapa royalties transaction anti-corruption assessment report for another week. That was when it was divinely revealed to me that the President whom I trusted so much for integrity only looked like the innocent flower of anti-corruption but he was really the mother corruption serpent under the innocent-looking flower,” he added.
Embattled Anti-corruption Crusader, Martin Alamisi Burnes Kaiser Amidu, says but for “divine revelation,” he would still be under the erroneous impression that the President, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo was a man of integrity.
According to him, just like the scales felled off the eyes of the Biblical Saul following a hands-on prayer encounter with Ananias, the “Holy Trinity” gave him a divine vision about the real “mother corruption serpent under the innocent-looking flower of anti-corruption” that the president is.
Mr Amidu who was appointed by the president to help fight corruption and was tasked to probe the controversial Agyapa Royalties Transaction Agreement is now in a sparring contest of words with his former employer.
He resigned from his position as Ghana’s first Special Prosecutor on November 16, 2020.
In his anti-corruption assessment report on the Agyapa deal, he indicted the Transaction Advisor(s) involved in the deal for being susceptible to “nepotism, cronyism, and favoritism”.
Even though the president has strongly denied the allegations, Amidu insisted that God revealed to him the facts about the deal.
President Akufo Addo in a letter accepting Mr. Amidu’s resignation denied ever interfering in his work and rather said he gave him all the assistance and independence to operate.
But Amidu has disputed those claims after describing the president as a “mother serpent of corruption”.
In a 27-page response to the presidency’s comment after accepting his resignation weeks back, Amidu without ‘fear and favor’ has concluded that the first gentleman of the land is living a double life at the blind side of most Ghanaians.
“That God (represented by the Holy Trinity in my Catholic faith) was in his own divine way revealing to me for the first time the President of Ghana only looked like the innocent flower of the fight against corruption but was indeed the mother serpent of corruption under the innocent-looking flower of anti-corruption,” he noted in his latest epistle.
And in a thanksgiving prayer, he added; “May God, encompassed in the blessed Holy trinity be eternally praised for that divine revelation.”
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has vehemently denied interfering with the work of the Special Prosecutor Mr Martin Amidu . Mr Amidu resigned from his post on Monday, November 16 citing interference by the President as one of the reasons.
He said in his letter to the president that “It is essential for me to state for the purpose of the records, and contrary to public perceptions, that my appointment letter was received on 5th February 2020 (almost two (2)-years after my appointment).
“The copy addressees made no efforts to honour any of the conditions of appointment in terms of emoluments and benefits of the appointment ever since my warrant of appointment was issued on 23rd February 2018 to the date of my letter of resignation. The Deputy Special Prosecutor has also not been paid any emoluments since her appointment, and there is the need to redress that situation for her now that I am out of the way.
“The events of 12th November 2020 removed the only protection I had from the threats and plans directed at me for undertaking the Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions anti-corruption assessment report and dictates that I resign as the Special Prosecutor immediately.
“I should not ordinarily be announcing my resignation to the public myself but the traumatic experience I went through from 20th October 2020 to 2nd November 2020 when I conveyed in a thirteen (13) page letter the conclusions and observations on the analysis of the risk of corruption and anti-corruption assessment on the Report On Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions and Other Matters Related Thereto to the President as Chairman of the National Security Council caution against not bringing my resignation as the Special Prosecutor with immediate to the notice of the Ghanaian public and the world.
“The reaction I received for daring to produce the Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions anti-corruption report convinces me beyond any reasonable doubt that I was not intended to exercise any independence as the Special Prosecutor in the prevention, investigation, prosecution, and recovery of assets of corruption. My position as the Special Prosecutor has consequently become clearly untenable.”
But Mr Akufo-Addo in a statement reacting to these allegations said “Your accusation of interference with your functions simply on account of the meeting the president held with you is perplexing.
“In exercise of what you considered to be your powers under Act 959, you had voluntarily proceeded to produce the Agyapa Report.
“The president had no hand in your work. Without prompting from any quarter within the Executive., you delivered a letter purporting to be a copy of your report to the president.
“The purpose of presenting a copy of the Agyapa report to the president is decipherable from paragraph 32 of your letter to the president in which you indicated that you hoped the report will be ‘used to improve current and future legislative and executive actions to make corruption and corruption-related offences very high-risk enterprise in Ghana’,” the president said in a statement responding to the accusation against him by Mr Amidu who resigned from his post on Monday.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has vehemently denied interfering with the work of the Special Prosecutor Mr Martin Amidu . Mr Amidu resigned from his post on Monday, November 16 citing interference by the President as one of the reasons.
He said in his letter to the president that “It is essential for me to state for the purpose of the records, and contrary to public perceptions, that my appointment letter was received on 5th February 2020 (almost two (2)-years after my appointment).
“The copy addressees made no efforts to honour any of the conditions of appointment in terms of emoluments and benefits of the appointment ever since my warrant of appointment was issued on 23rd February 2018 to the date of my letter of resignation. The Deputy Special Prosecutor has also not been paid any emoluments since her appointment, and there is the need to redress that situation for her now that I am out of the way.
“The events of 12th November 2020 removed the only protection I had from the threats and plans directed at me for undertaking the Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions anti-corruption assessment report and dictates that I resign as the Special Prosecutor immediately.
“I should not ordinarily be announcing my resignation to the public myself but the traumatic experience I went through from 20th October 2020 to 2nd November 2020 when I conveyed in a thirteen (13) page letter the conclusions and observations on the analysis of the risk of corruption and anti-corruption assessment on the Report On Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions and Other Matters Related Thereto to the President as Chairman of the National Security Council caution against not bringing my resignation as the Special Prosecutor with immediate to the notice of the Ghanaian public and the world.
“The reaction I received for daring to produce the Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions anti-corruption report convinces me beyond any reasonable doubt that I was not intended to exercise any independence as the Special Prosecutor in the prevention, investigation, prosecution, and recovery of assets of corruption. My position as the Special Prosecutor has consequently become clearly untenable.”
But Mr Akufo-Addo in a statement reacting to these allegations said “Your accusation of interference with your functions simply on account of the meeting the president held with you is perplexing.
“In exercise of what you considered to be your powers under Act 959, you had voluntarily proceeded to produce the Agyapa Report.
“The president had no hand in your work. Without prompting from any quarter within the Executive., you delivered a letter purporting to be a copy of your report to the president.
“The purpose of presenting a copy of the Agyapa report to the president is decipherable from paragraph 32 of your letter to the president in which you indicated that you hoped the report will be ‘used to improve current and future legislative and executive actions to make corruption and corruption-related offences very high-risk enterprise in Ghana’,” the president said in a statement responding to the accusation against him by Mr Amidu who resigned from his post on Monday.
“The purpose of presenting a copy of the Agyapa report to the president is decipherable from paragraph 32 of your letter to the president in which you indicated that you hoped the report will be ‘used to improve current and future legislative and executive actions to make corruption and corruption-related offences very high-risk enterprise in Ghana’,” the president said in a statement responding to the accusation against him by Mr Amidu who resigned from his post on Monday.
President Nana Akufo-Addo has dismissed claims by the immediate-past Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, that he interferes with his investigative work.
Mr Amidu, it would be recalled, on Monday, November 16, 2020, tendered in his resignation in a letter addressed to Mr Akufo-Addo.
In the letter, Mr Amidu, among other things, accused the President of interfering with investigation works into alleged corruption cases.
He mentioned for instance that the President sought to interfere with his corruption risk investigation into the controversial Agyapa Royalties deal.
But the President, through his Secretary, Nana Bediatuo Asante, has responded to each of the claims made against him by the Mr Amidu.
In a letter addressed to Mr Amidu and signed by Mr Asante, the President made it clear that throughout the tenure of Mr Amidu, he (Mr Akufo-Addo) nor any member of his government interfered or sought to interfere with his work.
According to the Presidency, in Mr Amidu’s letter to the President dated October 16, 2020, he stated, in part in relation to the novel nature of the report on the analysis of the risk of corruption and anti-corruption assessment of the gold royalties monetization transaction that “this has been made possible by the courage and commitment of H.E. the President of Ghana on redeeming the promise he made to Ghanaians when he was a Presidential candidate of a political party to establish an independent anti-corruption statutory entity to male meaningful any real commitment to prevent and fight corruption.
The Presidency stated that on August 3, 2020, Mr Amidu in a letter to the Chief of Staff at the Office of the President, noted that “I have remained in this Office this long out of personal respect for the President’s shared commitment with me to fight corruption.”
Thus, the Presidency says it found it surprising that Mr Amidu will come out to question the commitment of President Akufo-Addo as far as the fight against corruption is concerned and even go on to accuse him (Akufo-Addo) of interfering with investigative works into alleged corruption cases.
The Presidency could not also understand why even before the President had been given the opportunity to reacts to the contents of Mr Amidu’s four-page letter, it had been circulated into the public domain prior to receipt by Mr Akufo-Addo.
The former special prosecutor has got people talking for what he did. A report has been sighted on citi news indicating that Mr Amidu has returned a sum of 12,696 being given to him by the government.
Mr. Martin Amidu has returned all sitting allowance paid to him by the Government since he assumed Office in 2018.
A documents has been sighted on citi news page showing six meeting attended by Mr. Martin Amidu between December 2018 and May 2020.
According to the documents, Mr. Martin Amidu was giving GHS 5,560 as August to December 2018 board allowance.
He received an amount of GHS 1,440 each on four (4) different occasions in a board sitting meeting.
Mr. Martin Amidu was further presented GHS 1,376 for sitting in an Entity Tender Committee Meeting Allowance.
According to sources Mr. Martin Amidu has returned all the allowances because he sees board meeting as part of his official work and see no reason to take a separate money for it.
Kimathi Rawlings, the son of ex-president and founder of the biggest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) J.J Rawlings who passed on about a week ago has joined netizens to share his thought on the resignation of Martin Amidu as Special Prosecutor.
The former Attorney General wrote to the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, on Monday saying his decision is to enable his appointing authority “to take steps to appoint a replacement to that position as required by law.”
Kimathi Rawlings reacting to the news wrote on twitter:
” When the security man realises the Landlord is the real thief, he flees”.
The Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, has resigned from his position three years after he was appointed by President Akufo-Addo.
The former Attorney General wrote to the President Nana Akufo-Addo Monday saying his decision is to enable his appointing authority “to take steps to appoint a replacement to that position as required by law.”
This is to inform the public that I resigned from my position as the Special Prosecutor of the Office of the Special Prosecutor with immediate effect upon the submission of my letter of resignation with reference number OSP/2/AM/14 dated 16th November 2020 which was received at the Office of the President at 15:15 HRS this afternoon,” he said in his letter to the President.
I should not ordinarily be announcing my resignation to the public myself but the traumatic experience I went through from 20th October 2020 to 2nd November 2020 when I conveyed in a 13-page letter the conclusions and observations on the analysis of the risk of corruption and anti-corruption assessment on the Report On Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions and Other Matters Related Thereto to the President as Chairman of the National Security Council cautions against not bringing my resignation as the Special Prosecutor with immediate to the notice of the Ghanaian public and the world,” Mr Amidu said.
Martin Amidu, The Special Prosecutor has hit hard at former President John Dramani Mahama for labelling him as a coward by deferring investigations into the controversial Airbus bribery scandal.
In his latest response to the former President, Marting Amidu said the comments from John Mahama shows the latter’s lack of understanding of issues of security and intelligence.
“The long public service of the Special Prosecutor spanning various aspects of security and intelligence from the period of 1982 to 7th January 2001 and July 2009 to January 2012 makes him more experienced in determining when it is not conducive to the national security interest to foolhardily take certain law and order actions. The Special Prosecutor owes that exercise of discretion to his vast experience over the years, his responsibility to maintain national stability and his conscience as a patriotic anti-corruption crusading Ghanaian.”
“There is no question of stupidity or cowardice about it. Any person aspiring to be President of Ghana for a second term who does not know that a cardinal principle in security and intelligence is that “caution is the better part of valour” was not and is not worth the vote.
Meanwhile, Martin Amidu who has defended Mahama’s culpability in the bribery scandal has also challenged the former to voluntarily submit himself to be interrogated over the case.
“Your Excellency, the wise and the brave former President John Dramani Mahama, man-up, wise-up, and be brave enough to come with two lawyers of your own choice to be cautioned and interrogated by this Office to demonstrate your valour and wisdom as not being elected Government Official 1 and also as not being the first guarantor to Samuel Adam Mahama’s passport application,” Amidu said in a statement issued on Monday, November 9, 2020.
John Mahama accused the Special Prosecutor of deliberately mentioning his name and the Airbus scandal in the Agyapa report in a bid to equalize wrongdoing.
The former President said Martin Amidu’s move was only a diversionary tactic.
“If you have investigated Airbus, present a report on Airbus. Since you know the Agyapa report will be damning on the government, you chipped in a paragraph on Airbus. Nobody asked you about Airbus. If you were man enough, present two separate reports on the Agyapa Royalty deal and the Airbus scandal [so I can respond to you].”
“If you think I have been indicted on the Airbus scandal, accuse me directly. But because he is a coward and knew the Agyapa royalties deal will be discussed today, he chipped in a paragraph on Airbus to equalise the discussion,” he added.
