A private legal practitioner,\u00a0Yaw Oppong, is urging the Attorney General (AG) to concentrate on the recovery of the GHC 7.9 million National Service Secretariat (NSS) corruption scandal.<\/p>\n
He indicated that it will be easy to trace and recover the money \u201ceither bank accounts, persons who may be related to them, either by the conversion into buildings and other forms of property.\u201d<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”jtQT6E7mBZoxVULBFyYPL5YG3gC4HHw0″]The corrupt acts which were detected by Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) revealed that over\u00a0200,000\u00a0non-existent service persons in more than 100 districts<\/a>\u00a0across the country were paid an allowance of GH\u00a2350 amounting to GH\u00a27.9 million.<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n In an attempt to cover up, the Executive Director of the NSS, Alhaji Alhassan Imoro together with 23 Directors\u00a0paid investigators of the BNI<\/strong><\/span><\/a> an amount of GHC 100,000.<\/p>\n Following these revelations, the board of the NSS on Friday ordered Alhaji Imoro and all indicted officers to step aside<\/strong><\/span><\/a> to enable investigators carry out a comprehensive investigation into the matter.<\/p>\n On\u00a0<\/span>Citi\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>FM\u2019s<\/strong> news analysis programme, The Big Issue<\/strong><\/em>, Lawyer Oppong argued that the retrieval of the money involved in the scandal supersedes the prosecution of the officials.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI am all for prosecution, but more importantly, recovery of any monies that have been lost to the state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He suggested that the AG should sue the officers in a Civil Court \u201cbecause it\u2019s state money and recover the money. So let us be concerned about with recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n According to him, in the civil suit, \u201cit is not about proof beyond reasonable doubt, it is just a balance of probabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n He further explained that bringing a criminal suit against the NSS officials could lead to a mix up of evidence if care is not taken.<\/p>\n Lawyer Oppong expressed his reservations about prosecuting and sentencing public officials and political appointees, stating that, available records indicate that they will eventually be given a presidential pardon.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy should we be so much in a hurry to cause the prosecution of these people? The state will use our meager resources out of what they have stolen to maintain them in prison. And then all of a sudden, we will issue prerogative of mercy to release them,\u201d he lamented.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By: Efua Idan Osam\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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