Former Attorney General Nii Ayikoi Otoo has criticized the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) over its handling of the Ken Ofori-Atta case, describing its approach as embarrassing and avoidable.
His remarks follow the OSP’s decision on Tuesday, February 18, to remove the former Finance Minister from its wanted list. The OSP explained that Ofori-Atta, through his legal team, had confirmed his return to Ghana in May 2025.
Speaking in an exclusive interview on Channel One Newsroom, Ayikoi Otoo described the OSP’s actions as inconsistent and unnecessary, arguing that there were better ways to handle the situation.
He criticized the decision to declare Ofori-Atta a fugitive, stating that the OSP was already aware of his whereabouts and could have pursued alternative legal measures to secure his return.
“The back-and-forth approach by the OSP is unfortunate. They could have resorted to other means of getting him back rather than declaring him a fugitive when they clearly knew where he was,” he said.
“If you are going to search somebody, they say go for a search warrant. If you want to arrest somebody, go for an arrest warrant. You don’t have all these things and you keep embarrassing everybody. And if you know the man is not in the country, how are you going to arrest him?
“Why don’t you look for other means of doing so, extradition or something else? Because you know he is not in the country. So why is he doing all that? It is unfortunate,” he said.
He further asserted that the OSP’s inability to prosecute Ofori-Atta when he was in the country depicts that the OSP is toothless before government officials.
“What he is telling Ghanaians is that he cannot go after government people but he can go after former ministers,” he stated.
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