Sammy Darko, the Director of Strategy and Communication at the Office of the Special Prosecutor has detailed the OSP cannot take the former finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta’s caution statement through Zoom.
He emphasised that Ofori-Atta has not been arrested by any law enforcement agency so the suggestion that the OSP could take his statement via Zoom may not apply.
Sammy Darko further asserted that a suspect cannot be arrested through Zoom neither can a caution statement be taken.
Speaking on TV3 KeyPoints on June 7, Sammy Darko clarified, “I would like to address a little confusion in the minds of lawyers in particular. I think some lawyers are treating Mr Ofori-Atta as if he is an accused person. Which means that Mr Ofori-Atta has been arrested and charged. They will talk about why the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) not taking advantage of the mutual legal assistance programme? Go and do video conferencing, bla, bla.
OSP is aware of all these things. These things are used when a person has been arrested and charged and placed before a court. As we speak, Mr Ofori-Atta has not been arrested by any law enforcement agency. So the suggestion that we could take Mr Ofor-Atta via Zoom may not apply. Because you cannot arrest a suspect through Zoom. You cannot take a caution statement through Zoom, because the only time when you can take a caution statement is when the person has been arrested, properly so-called”.
He continued, “And let me also address the issue of trial in absentia. If you study our constitution very well, Article 19 (3) details how a trial in absentia can happen and the conditions are about two- when an accused, and accused is when the person has been arrested and charged, has disruptive behaviour such that placing him before the law will disrupt proceedings or if the person, having been charged, elects not to come to court at all.
So there is a popular case of Kwakye vs the Republic. The whole idea is that the person must be tried present unless that person says I don’t want to go through the trial. It is the same principle around international court processes. The International Criminal Court (ICC) for instance, why do you think they issue arrest warrant and place people on INTERPOL Wanted List.”
The Special Prosecutor in a press conference rejected Ken Ofori-Atta’s request for a virtual session.
According to Kissi Agyebeng, Ken Ofori-Atta must present himself physically to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
Kissi Agyebeng stated, “This office has always requested his attendance, and we have indicated clearly to him that we are unwilling to waive it. If we were amenable to taking any statement from Ken Ofori-Atta in absentia, we would have done so in February, and not waited till June 2, 2025.
“We want him here physically, and we insist on it. A suspect in a criminal investigation does not pick and choose how the investigative body conducts its investigations and the methods suitable to him and his convenience. We will not countenance this conduct, not in this case”, he added.
