We won’t rush to prosecute Nyantakyi with no evidence – Kpemka
Deputy Attorney General, Joseph Kpemka says his outfit will not rush in prosecuting former President of the Ghana football Association (GFA), Kwesi Nyantakyi.
He stated that his office will thoroughly investigate the matter to gather evidence and facts before proceeding to the court.
In an interview, the Tempane MP said although his office is aware that time is of essence, they will not rush to the court only to be embarrassed.
“We will go to court when we are ready. We know that time is of essence. Even though justice delayed is justice denied, but justice hurried is justice buried. We may be perceived to be moving slowly on the matter but I can tell you that we are doing all within our capacity to go to court with iron hard evidence and fact to substantiate our case and not embarrass ourselves under the pretext of satisfying an angry crowd,” he said.
The Attorney General, Gloria Akuffo while answering a question posed by MP for the Mion Constituency, Mohammed Abdul-Aziz in parliament, on the status of the case said, her office may put the case before court in a fortnight.
The MP later described the response given by the AG as unsatisfactory accusing government of showing no interest in the matter. According to him, the state has shown no sense of urgency a year after the football exposé, Number 12 implicated the GFA President.
But the deputy AG says the office of the Attorney General is making considerations about what witnesses and evidence will be relevant to the case in the face the murder of a principal witness and lead TigerEye PI investigator, Ahmed Suale.
“We are very close to going to court…We are not ready to rush to court, get crashed and be a subject of ridicule. it is better for us to hasten slowly and come to a conclusive determination to build a docket that will stand the test of time,” he added.
President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo in May 2018 tasked the Police to investigate Kwesi Nyantakyi for a possible crime of fraud.
This was after the President was reported to have watched portions of the documentary that exposed corruption in football administration in Ghana and other African countries.
A Deputy Chief of Staff, Samuel Abu Jinapor, said that the President was unhappy Mr. Nyantakyi had used his name dishonestly in the exposé.
In the video, the then GFA boss was seen using the President’s name, that of the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and other senior government officials, to illegally request for various sums of money from investigators disguised as investors.
Mr Jinapor at the time said the President, after consultations and having satisfied himself that there was a basis for launching investigation into the conduct of the GFA president, directed the CID to investigate the matter.
The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) as part of its investigations, seized mobile phones and laptops of the embattled football administrator as he was formally charged with defrauding by false pretense.
Kwesi Nyantakyi was handed a life ban from all football-related activities by FIFA for violating the governing body’s ethics code, including bribery and corruption.