Galamsey allegations: Frimpong-Boateng fails to provide evidence - A-G

The Office of the Attorney-General (A-G) and Ministry of Justice has stated that Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng has failed to provide evidence to substantiate accusations against 12 persons for engaging in illegal mining.

The A-G’s Office, in a seven-page legal advice signed by a Chief State Attorney, Evelyn Keelson, said the evidence provided by the former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, “were bare” and could not support a criminal case against 12 of the 15 individuals.

The Office, therefore, cannot prosecute the 12 persons he accused of engaging in illegal mining, due to the lack of evidence.

The 15 persons, who include top government officials, bigwigs in the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and others, were accused by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng in a report to the President, put in the public domain, of either engaging or complicit in illegal mining popularly known as galamsey, or frustrating the fight against the menace.

No criminality

The 12 persons the legal advice absolved of any act of criminality include the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah; a leading member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko; the Director of Operations at the Presidency, Lord Commey; a Presidential Staffer, Charles Nii Teiko Tagoe; the Director of Political Affairs to the Chief of Staff at the Presidency, Frank Asiedu Bekoe; a security aide to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Captain Edmund Kojo Koda (retd), and a former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Forestry Commission, the late Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie.

The rest are a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Manso Nkwanta, Joseph Albert Quarm; Editor of the Crusading Guide, Kweku Baako Jnr; a businessman, Donald Entsuah, one Charles Owusu and an unnamed former MP for Wassa East Constituency.

“Investigations by the police have not revealed any evidence in support of the allegations. The allegations are, therefore, bare and do not provide a basis for any criminal charge against the persons cited in the Report except the three mentioned above”.

“In the absence of any evidence on the docket in support of any of the allegations of illegal mining activities, we are unable to recommend the prosecution of any of the persons cited in the Report. We, however, await the outcome of the investigations being conducted in the case involving Seth Mantey, John Ofori Atta and Ekow Ewusi,” the legal advice added.

Plausible evidence 

The A-G’s Office said there were plausible evidence against three others — Seth Mantey, a journalist with Accra-based radio station, Peace FM; John Ofori Atta, a former Central Regional Security Coordinator, and Horace Ekow Ewusi, a former Central Regional Vice-Chairman of the NPP.

The legal advice explained that the case against the three was already under investigation by the police and, therefore, the A-G would await the outcome of that investigation.

No supporting information

The A-G further explained that Prof. Frimpong-Boateng failed to provide concrete evidence to support most of his allegations when the police requested it.

The legal advice was provided by the A-G after the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service forwarded the case docket of investigations into the allegations made by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng to the A-G for legal advice as stipulated by law.

Details 

Giving more details, the A-G said it examined the galamsey report authored by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng and statements taken by the police from those accused by the former minister.

The A-G said it examined other pieces of evidence such as documents presented by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, which included a list of excavators seized by the government, a list of small-scale miners with permit to mine, and a police statement taken from Mantey after he (Mantey) was arrested in the alleged illegal sale of excavators in 2019.

The legal advice said the only evidence worth considering was the statement of Mantey in which he admitted to aiding Ofori Atta to take money from miners to help them get back their seized excavators.

“In the statement dated 16th October 2019, Seth Mantey stated that he was an errand boy for John Ofori Atta, the Central Regional Security Coordinator and member of the GalamStop, a task force against illegal mining”. 

“According to Mantey, in the course of the operation, he became a contact boy for miners whose excavators were seized by the task force. 

“Mantey alleged that the miners were directed by John Ofori Atta to pay between GH¢50,000 and GH¢55,000 into his account at NIB to influence the team to release the seized excavators. Mantey further alleges that all the money paid into his account was withdrawn by him and paid to John Ofori Atta who gave some to Ekow Ewusi. According to him, about 27 of the seized excavators were released,” the A-G’s legal advice recounted.

It was based on the above statement by Mantey that the A-G said the only persons of interest worth pursing were Mantey, Ofori Atta and Ewusi.

Frimpong-Boateng’s Report

In a report presented to the Presidency in March 2021, which is currently in the public domain, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng mentioned dozens of people in the Akufo-Addo Administration, as well as party bigwigs, as being complicit in illegal mining and frustrating the efforts of the President to combat the menace.

However, the Presidency and some of the individuals mentioned in the report have dismissed the report.

The government appointees and NPP bigwigs mentioned in the report who refuted the allegations include Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Lord Commey Gabby Otchere-Darko, who has also sued the former minister for defamation.

Presidency’s reaction

A statement from the Presidency dismissed the report in its form and substance, and further described it as “unfounded and hearsay.”

In terms of the form, the statement said the report was not an official document, but rather a catalogue of personal grievances by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng in response to some issues during his tenure as the Chairperson of the Inter Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM).

The report, the statement said, was delivered by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng to the Chief of Staff on March 21, 2021, when President Akufo-Addo decided not to renew his mandate as a minister in his second term.

“The document did not have a transmittal or cover letter nor, indeed, an addressee, such as to suggest that it was submitted to the Chief of Staff for action.

“It is noteworthy that the IMCIM was a creation of Cabinet, and any formal report on its activities would, normally, be submitted to Cabinet through the Cabinet Secretary, or directly to the President of the Republic as Chairperson of Cabinet. To date, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng has done neither,” the statement added.

With regard to its substance, the statement noted that although the allegations made by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng were serious, he failed to provide any shred of evidence to support them.

“It is important also to point out that while Prof. Frimpong-Boateng makes serious allegations against some government appointees, as having been involved in, supporting or interfering with the fight against illegal mining, not a single piece of evidence was adduced or presented to enable the claims to be properly investigated.
When reached, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng declined to comment.

Writer’s email: emma.hawkson@graphic.com.gh.