Parliament has passed the Office of Special Prosecutor Bill, 2017 after more than 30 amendments had been made to the Bill which was laid before the House on July 19, 2017.
The Attorney General at the sitting of Parliament, yesterday, moved for the third reading of the Bill and it was subsequently passed.
The purpose of the Bill is to establish the Office of the Special Prosecutor as a specialized agency to investigate specific cases of corruption involving public officers, politically-exposed persons as well as individuals in the private sector implicated in corrupt practices and to prosecute these offences on the authority of the Attorney-General.
Government, by this Act of Parliament, intends to establish an Office of the Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute certain categories of cases and allegations of corruption and other criminal wrongdoing, including those involving alleged violations of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) and cases implicating public officers and politically-exposed persons.
The Office is also expected to help reduce the workload on existing investigative agencies and, thereby, enhance their effectiveness.
The establishment of the Office of the Special Prosecutor has become necessary in view of the institutional bottlenecks that impede the fight against corruption.
Furthermore, the monopoly of prosecutorial authority by an Attorney-General, who is hired and fired by the President, has been singled out by governance experts as one of the key factors that stand in the way of using law enforcement and prosecution as a credible tool in the fight against corruption.
Source: ISD (Eva Frempon- Ntiamoah)
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