Freelance investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has described the handling of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) CEO scandal by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) as “becoming a foolish case.”
Speaking on the Joy Super Morning Show on Friday, December 6, Manasseh expressed frustration at what he described as delays and procedural issues that undermine the prosecution’s effectiveness.
“I cannot give you timelines when this investigation will be done, and if it is done, you will know. The way this is being handled, eventually it is becoming a foolish case,” Manassaeh said.
He added that key witnesses, including himself, were reluctant to testify again after procedural frustrations, which could compromise the case.
The comments follow tweets in which Manasseh Awuni criticised the OSP for its handling of evidence.
The court admitted the documentary Contracts for Sale as evidence, but the pendrive submitted by the OSP reportedly did not contain the documentary. The office said this was an error.
Awuni explained that the situation creates significant legal complications. “If they have to start the case all over, it will depend on whether I will be prepared to go and testify again, and whether the charged person who has been cross-examined already would want to start again. There are so many implications for this case,” he said.
The documentary, ‘Contracts for Sale’, which came out in 2019, exposed the CEO of the Public Procurement Authority, A.B. Adjei, for selling government contracts he had won through his company.
Former President Nana Akufo-Addo on August 22, then suspended the Chief Executive Officer of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), A.B Adjei, over allegations of corruption and conflict of interest.
In the documentary, A.B. Adjei was said to have established his own company, Talent Discovery Limited, incorporated in June 2017, which won some government contracts through restrictive tendering.
The company was, in turn, selling the contracts to individuals as revealed by Manasseh Azure Awuni’s sting operations.
From the documentary, Talent Discovery Limited was ready to sell a contract worth GHc22.3 million to a non-existent entity.
Manasseh Azure disclosed that he has not spoken again with the Special Prosecutor since their last conversation two weeks ago, and he emphasised that his criticisms are aimed at the management of the case rather than the courts.
“It is not because the courts have frustrated it,” he clarified, noting that the issues are administrative and procedural.
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