Two anti-corruption experts have said the recent order by an Accra High Court for the seizure of assets of persons convicted in the National Communications Authority (NCA) case is a significant deterring anti-corruption measure.
The two viewed Justice Eric Kyei Baffour’s judgment as the clearest indication yet of the application of laws to combat corruption.
Mr. Korieh Duodu, a Senior Partner at Egality Law, and Mrs. Linda Ofori-Kwafo, Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), discussed asset recovery in relation with the May 12, 2020 judgment by an Accra High Court, presided over by Justice Kyei Baffour, a Justice of the Court of Appeal sitting as an additional High Court Judge.
The occasion was the launching in Accra of the Corruption Watch webcast series intended to complement the traditional Corruption Watch Radio Programme that airs on two platforms of the Multimedia Group – Joy FM’s Super Morning Show (SMS) and Adom FM’s Badwam.
Mr. Korieh Duodu, a Senior Partner at Egality Law, in respect of Justice Kyei Baffour’s order for the seizure and forfeiture to the Republic of any asset of the convicted persons to the tune of US$3 million, said: “Putting someone in jail over this type of allegation is really only a part of the deterrent effect.
“Now, if you can also take steps to recover the losses to the state, there are a number of benefits to doing that…you strike fear to the hearts of those who are involved in stealing from the state and dispersing those funds; profiting from those funds,” the legal practitioner and anti-corruption expert said.
Mr. Duodu assessed that “…this is a reasoned and solid judgment… with important ramifications in Ghana’s fight against corruption, because it has a number of powerful features to it which should stand Ghana in good stead in recovering stolen funds in future.”
Mrs. Linda Ofori-Kwafo, on the other hand, asked “…of what relevance and importance (would it be) if you are only able to send people to jail and not be able to recover the monies that were wrongly applied?”
She said: “If you use state resources wrongfully and then you are investigated and found culpable, and then there is a judgment that says take the assets, and actually the assets are recovered…it will serve as a warning and a deterrence to other people that the benefit of corruption is actually lower than the cost it brings to the perpetrators.”
Mrs. Ofori-Kwafo further stated that the judgment is “…a boost and reassurance that there is hope, and that if we continue to do the right things, we are likely to get the results that we are looking for.”
In the judgment under review, Justice Kyei Baffour sentenced three of the five persons accused of corruption in the ‘clandestine’ purchase of supposed cyber security equipment for the National Communications Authority (NCA) to a collective 16 years imprisonment.
In his judgment, Justice Kyei Baffour gave an order for the seizure of any assets of the convicted persons to the tune of $3 million. The seized assets are to be forfeited to the State (Ghana). Justice Kyei Baffour also ordered the Attorney-General to take steps to enforce this order of the court.
The post Anti-corruption experts advocate seizure of assets of corrupt officials appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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