{"id":382503,"date":"2017-12-12T07:25:41","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T07:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=382503"},"modified":"2017-12-12T07:25:41","modified_gmt":"2017-12-12T07:25:41","slug":"charlotte-osei-remain-office-corruption-probe-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/12\/charlotte-osei-remain-office-corruption-probe-lawyer\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlotte Osei could remain in office during corruption probe &#8211; Lawyer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A private legal practitioner, \u00a0Yaw Oppong, has suggested that the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei, could remain in her position while a probe is conducted into alleged acts of malfeasance by her and two deputies at the Commission.<\/p>\n<p>His comments come after a <span style=\"color: #999999;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/12\/11\/charlotte-osei-2-deputies-to-face-cttee-in-corruption-probe\/\"><strong>prima facie case<\/strong><\/a><\/span>\u00a0was established against Mrs. Osei, following allegations of corruption and abuse of office leveled against her in two separate<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/19\/ec-staff-petition-nana-addo-to-sack-charlotte-osei\/\"> petitions<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>[contextly_sidebar id=&#8221;FRYShpHQvU9BoM0AVkHlspoeTWBz804b&#8221;]Her two deputies, Amadu Sulley (in charge of Operations), and Georgina Amankwa (in charge of Corporate Services), will also face a probe after all three top EC officials appeared individually before the Chief Justice in the company of their lawyers, at the office of the Judicial Service located at the Supreme Court on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The Chief Justice and the Judicial Council, may now recommend to the President of the Republic, the suspension of the EC Chair from her position, to enable her undergo the hearing.<\/p>\n<p>However, according to Yaw Oppong, unless it is established \u00a0that her continued stay in office would compromise the investigations, Charlotte Osei could be allowed to remain in her position while she and her deputies are probed.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In my view, \u00a0unless it can be seen that the person who is the subject of such an investigation is capable of interfering with the investigation process in terms of suspected cases of concealment of documentary or other forms of information, otherwise I think those persons can still occupy their position,&#8221; he said on <strong>Eyewitness News.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yaw Oppong added that, even if the President accepts the recommendation of the Judicial Council and suspends the EC Chair, he could, at any time, reinstate her should he feel the need to do so.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If the President is of the view that any useful purpose will be served by the person who is the subject of this investigation stepping aside or being suspended in the meantime [he can do so]. But at the same time, \u00a0Clause 11 says that the President may at any time revoke the suspension under this Article. Perhaps it may be used, but if any purpose may be served by the person being brought back to the position, the President has the power to do so,&#8221; he explained.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_382532\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-382532\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-382532 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/yaw-oppong-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/yaw-oppong-4.jpg 600w, https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/yaw-oppong-4-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-382532\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yaw Oppong<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>President not bound by recommendations\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yaw Oppong also suggested that, the President may not be compelled to implement the recommendations of the Judicial Council should they call for the suspension of Charlotte Osei.<\/p>\n<p>Citing a similar case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the President was not bound by the advice of the Council of State, \u00a0Yaw Oppong stated that, it was however vital that the President is seen to have sought the advice of the Judicial Council on the issue, as stated by the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It doesn&#8217;t appear that the President may be bound by the advice [of the Judicial Council]. What it really means is that, there should be evidence that the President at least sought the advise of the Judicial Council. And I think that any prudent President, and so far we&#8217;ve had prudent presidents, will act on the advise of the Judicial Council,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Unless that president may want to also violate the Constitution, which, so far our President has done well not to. \u00a0He&#8217;s complied essentially with the provisions that have come up for compliance.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"main-content\" class=\"container fade-in animated3\">\n<div class=\"content-wrap\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<article id=\"the-post\" class=\"post-listing post-382436 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-slider-1 category-top-stories tag-amadu-sulley tag-charlotte-osei tag-chief-justice tag-ec tag-ghana-news\">\n<div class=\"post-inner\">\n<div class=\"entry\">\n<p><strong>The Petitions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Some staff of the EC petitioned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in July 2017, to remove Mrs. Osei from office over allegations of fraud and financial malfeasance as well as abuse of office.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the allegations involved the unilateral award of contracts by the EC boss in the run-up to the 2016 general election.<\/p>\n<p>The unnamed EC staff are being represented by Lawyer Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang, against Mrs. Osei.<\/p>\n<p>The petition against her, alleged among others the funnelling of GH\u00a23.9 million to partition an office, the receipt of a Toyota Land Cruiser from the Mahama government, and the use of about $14 million when the Public Procurement Authority had authorized her to use only $7.5 million.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Charlotte Osei takes on Deputies\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Osei also responded by making <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/23\/amadu-sulley-illegally-took-ghc-6m-from-parties-charlotte-osei\/\">allegations of corruption against her deputies<\/a><\/strong>, claiming that she was only being hounded because she sought to introduce systems to curb misuse and mismanagement of resources.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_382313\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-382313 \" src=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Amadu-Sulley-1.jpeg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 839px) 100vw, 839px\" srcset=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Amadu-Sulley-1.jpeg 1000w, http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Amadu-Sulley-1-300x225.jpeg 300w, http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Amadu-Sulley-1-768x576.jpeg 768w\" alt=\"\" width=\"839\" height=\"630\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amadu Sulley (R) with his lawyer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_382449\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-382449 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Georgina-2-1024x750.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" srcset=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Georgina-2.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Georgina-2-300x220.jpg 300w, http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Georgina-2-768x563.jpg 768w\" alt=\"\" width=\"620\" height=\"454\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Georgina Opoku Amankwa in the company of her lawyers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Charlotte Osei <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/24\/amadu-sulley-illegally-transferred-votes-charlotte-osei\/\">among other claims<\/a><\/strong>, accused deputy Chairperson of the Commission of <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/07\/22\/ec-deputy-chair-illegally-signed-over-ghc40m-contract-charlotte-osei\/\">illegally signing contracts <\/a><\/strong>worth over GHC 40 million without her approval.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fresh impeachment against EC Chair<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Subsequently, another individual by name <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/08\/31\/new-petition-against-charlotte-osei-forwarded-to-cj\/\">Douglas Seidu<\/a><\/strong>, a concerned Ghanaian, also petitioned the President in August 2017, seeking the <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/08\/30\/fresh-impeachment-petition-filed-against-charlotte-osei\/\">removal of the EC Chair<\/a><\/strong>, on grounds of \u201cfinancial misconduct, incompetence, conflict of interest, breaches of the public procurement processes, amongst others. It is an eight-paged petition\u201d according to the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, who spoke to<strong> Citi News<\/strong> in August.<\/p>\n<p>President Akufo-Addo in accordance with the constitution forwarded both petitions to the Chief Justice to look into the matter.<br \/>\nSuggestions are that both petitions have been consolidated to make the committee\u2019s work easier.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>By: Edwin Kwakofi\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A private legal practitioner, \u00a0Yaw Oppong, has suggested that the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei, could remain in her position while a probe is conducted into alleged acts of malfeasance by her and two deputies at the Commission. His comments come after a prima facie case\u00a0was established against Mrs. Osei, following allegations of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":382310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,11],"tags":[14089,1748,2169,3,15371],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Charlotte Osei could remain in office during corruption probe - Lawyer - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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