General News of Tuesday, 10 July 2012

Source: Al-Hajj

MP Charged for stealing and fraud

In the case of alleged day light robbery by an Hon. MP
ATTA AKYEA FOR COURT

-KwabenaAgyarko, 3 others to follow


All is now set for the formal prosecution of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa South, Hon. Samuel Atta Akyea and Mr. KwabenaAgyarko, Ayawaso West Wuogon parliamentary aspirant on charges of stealing and fraud; despite a last minute smear campaign targeting the Attorney-General (A-G), Dr. Ben Kumbuor by pro-NPP press, commentators and pressure groups.

As part of a well-coordinated and concerted effort at scuttling the imminent prosecution of some five high-profiled ‘straight-forward’ criminal cases against some persons within the opposition NPP, including Abuakwa South MP, Mr. Samuel Atta Akyea and the Ayawaso West Wuogon parliamentary aspirant on the ticket of NPP, Mr. KwabenaAgyarko, an agenda has been set in motion to smudge the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr. Ben Kumbuor, using surrogates and media stooges.
The Abuakwa South MP, Samuel Atta Akyea, an astute lawyer himself who was admitted to a GH¢100,000 bail with one surety was arrested and charged with stealing and fraudulent breach of trust, almost a year ago.
Mr. Atta Akyea’s arrest follows his role in a $155,000 landed property sale at the Airport Residential area in Accra in which he is alleged to have stolen $60,000.
However, since July 2011 when the police preferred the charge of stealing and fraudulent breach of trust, the office of the Attorney-General, to which the Ghana Police forwarded the docket for further advice, has failed and or refused to prosecute the Hon. Atta Akyea, compelling the victim, one Mr. Joseph Adom, to fire two strong petitions to the A-G and president of the Republic.
But this paper’s sources at the Attorney General’s office revealed that the office is all set to start the prosecution of Hon Samuel Atta Akyea and Mr. KwabenaAgyarko, among other high-profile members of the opposition NPP, latest by the 17th of this month.
Mr. Joseph Adom, a road and building contractor and also Managing Director of J. Adom Limited, a client of the Abuakwa South MP sometime last year, reported Mr. Atta Akyea, his Personal and Company Lawyer to the police, accusing him of stealing US$60,000 and engaged in series of dishonest behavior.
The police, subsequently after investigations, charged Mr. Atta Akyea with stealing and fraudulent breach of trust and admitted him to a GH¢100,000 bail with one surety, but this was not before the Hon. MP refunded and paid to the police GHC100,000.
It will be recalled that, early last week an opposition group, Centre for National Affairs (CNA) allegedly file a writ against the continued stay in office of Dr. Kumbuor as Attorney-General, citing violation of Article 284 of the Constitution.

Investigations by this paper reveal that the NPP, while in power stuffed the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General with its apologists so that they could get their way in the prosecution and persecution of the members of the then opposition NDC.

Now, having lost power in 2008, these vestiges of NPP apologists, cloaked as professionals working for the state at the Ministry of Justice and A-G, have turned into saboteurs of government who often botch trials deliberately and at times leak vital information and legal strategy to members of the opposition in order to serve a political agenda and scuttle imminent trials.

The Al-Hajj has gathered that the case of Atta-Kyea and the impending trials of other four individuals fit into these agenda of the said saboteurs at A-G who leak the information to the NPP and their stooges in the media to begin a psychological war against Dr. Kumbour so as to put fear in him to stop the trials.


Consequently, there were incessant hollers and tirade from the editor-in-chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Abdul Malik KwekuBaako,a known apologist and propaganda-in-chief of the opposition NPP at the well-learned Attorney-General.

Mr. Baako has been mounting offensive media attacks against the A-G questioning his integrity in as far as his silence over the allegations by the Centre for National Affairs (CNA) in a yet to be determined matter at the supreme court is concern.

This, the Al-Hajj has learnt is part of the grand design by elements of the opposition to intimidate the A-G and dissuade him from going ahead with his planned prosecutions.

Then on the afternoon of that same day, another NPP political pressure group, Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) in their usual chorus, issued a statement saying it is “flabbergasted by the continuous silence of the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr. Benjamin Kumbour on the issue of a self-inflicted assassination attempt leveled against him”.

According to the AFAG,“as the principal legal advisor to the government and officer responsible for the initiation and conduct of all prosecutions of criminal offences, his continuous silence on a matter which borders on such criminality, has left AFAG and all well-meaning Ghanaians wondering on the personal credibility and integrity of the man who occupies the noble office of Attorney General and Minister of Justice”.

The Al-Hajj few weeks ago, stated that in Ghana, so long as you are wealthy person, a politician, a priest or a chief and or a prominent figure in society, you can maim, steal or even kill and you are likely to escape trial let alone punishment.
This paper then cited the alleged stealing case, involving the Abuakwa South MP, Hon. Samuel Atta Akyea, as a typical reference point.