Deputy Ranking Member of Parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee, Alhassan Sulemana Tampuli, has strongly criticised the Attorney-General’s decision to terminate the criminal trial of former Finance Minister Dr Kwabena Duffuor and seven others.
Describing the move as alarming and deeply troubling, Mr Tampuli warned it could erode public confidence in Ghana’s justice system and set a dangerous precedent of politicising legal accountability.
His remarks followed an announcement by Deputy Attorney-General, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, that the state had filed a nolle prosequi, formally discontinuing the high-profile case involving Dr Duffuor and others implicated in the collapse of uniBank during the 2018 banking sector clean-up.
The Attorney-General’s Department defended its decision, citing a 60% recovery of funds and assets from the accused as justification for halting further prosecution, arguing it no longer served the public interest.
But Mr Tampuli, who is also the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Gushegu, said the decision sends the wrong message and risks trivialising financial crimes linked to public institutions.
“We find this very worrying indeed, especially coming from the background where we had Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL). What we are seeing today appears to be something akin to ‘Operation Clear All Loot,’” he told Citi FM on Tuesday, 22 July.
He further argued that allowing political transitions to dictate which prosecutions continue undermines the rule of law and compromises the impartiality of the Attorney-General’s Office.
“It is very worrying that a government comes into power, and one of the major things the AG does is to clear every former appointee who has committed one wrong or the other and has been undergoing prosecution,” he said.
“The AG is not just the AG; he is the Minister of Justice. On this occasion, we are seeing something close to a minister of injustice in the work that the AG is doing.”
Mr Tampuli’s comments add to a growing chorus of criticism from legal analysts and civil society groups concerned about selective justice and perceived political interference in high-stakes corruption cases.
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