Attorney General Dame at the event
The Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice has said that none of the documents presented by the former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Prof. Frimpong Boateng, provided any relevant information in support of the allegations contained in his report entitled “Report on the work of IMCIM so far and the way forward.”
To this end, it has advised the Ghana Police Service to discharge persons cited in the report due to “the absence of any evidence on the docket in support of any of the allegations of illegal mining activities, we are unable to recommend the prosecution of any of the persons cited in the report.”
This was made known in its just-concluded review of a docket submitted by the Police on the allegations contained in a 36-page document written and signed by Prof. Frimpong Boateng.
The A-G’s advice, delivered to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, was signed by a Chief State Attorney, Mrs. Evelyn Keelson, of the Prosecutions Division of the Office of the Attorney-General.
Background
It would be recalled that in March this year, the former Minister, who was also the chairman of the defunct Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), in an interview on Ghana Broadcasting Corporation’s (GBC) television programme, “Legends of our Time,” alleged that some government officials and private citizens were involved in illegal mining activities locally referred to as “galamsey”.
Persons cited in the report as being involved in illegal mining activities included Laud Commey, Charles Nii Teiko Tagoe, Frank Asiedu Bekoe a.k.a. Protozoa, Joseph Albert Quarm, Charles Owusu, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, Captain (Rtd.) Edmund Kojo Koda, Donald Entsuah, and an unnamed former Member of Parliament for Wassa East Constituency.
Three individuals, Seth Mantey, John Ofori Atta and Ekow Ewusi, were alleged to be involved in the sale of excavators, whilst Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and Kwaku Baako Jnr. were said to have done acts which directly or indirectly inhibited the Professor in his fight against illegal mining.
When the attention of the Police was drawn to the said allegations, they wrote to Professor Frimpong Boateng, and requested his assistance in connection with investigations into the allegation.
When the Police visited him, the Professor did not name any government official involved in illegal mining activities, but submitted some documents to the Police. Notable among the documents was the 36-page report presented by him to the Chief of Staff.
Investigations and findings
According to the A-G’s advice to the CID, apart from the report which contained the main allegations, Prof. Frimpong Boateng also submitted six other documents to the Police.
They included a compilation of an updated list of small-scale miners permitted to work as of 7th July, 2020, a statement given to the Police by Seth Mantey with National Investment Bank (NIB) statements of account and deposit slips, and a decision by CHRAJ in a case filed against Professor Frimpong Boateng by Arnold Agbodo on concessions granted to the Professor’s son.
The A-G observed that “with the exception of the statement of Seth Mantey and some statements of account from NIB which provide some relevant information in respect of allegations against Seth Mantey, John Ofori Atta and Ekow Ewusi, none of the documents presented by Prof Frimpong Boateng provided any relevant information in support of the allegations contained in his report.”
It further stated that the Police also procured two pen drives, one from the Professor and another one from GBC. The first pen drive only contains videos of some mining areas captured by the IMCIM. The other pen drive is a recording of the interview the former Minister granted to GTV.
After a careful study of the report, the Attorney General pointed out that the various documents and pen drives submitted to the Police did not disclose any evidence in support of the allegations made against the persons cited in the report.
This is except for Seth Mantey, John Ofori Atta and Ekow Ewusi, in respect of whom the A-G instructed the Police to conclude their investigations and present a report to him.
The A-G has instructed the Police to wind up investigations on that issue, and furnish him with a report on same.
Also, the A-G noted that several attempts by the Police to obtain further information from Prof. Frimpong Boateng to substantiate the allegations in the report and to assist them in conducting further investigations have proven futile.
“The Professor refused to provide any further information to the police. He also declined to give a written statement, claiming his Report is ‘an embodiment of his statement’ and all the information he has on the allegations,” the Chief State Attorney stated.
