Supreme Court throws out case against OSP Act

The Supreme Court has unanimously dismissed a review application which sought to declare the law establishing the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) as unconstitutional.

The application had also sought to place the OSP under the control of the Attorney-General.

The Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Searchlight newspaper, Kenneth Kwabena Agyei Kuranchie, initially filed a case against the OSP, seeking a Supreme Court ruling to declare the OSP unconstitutional.

In his writ, Mr Kuranchie argued that the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959) violated several articles of the 1992 Constitution.

The OSP is an anti-corruption agency with police powers and independent prosecutorial authority, established in 2018 to investigate and prosecute specific cases of grand corruption and corruption-related offences involving public officers, politically exposed persons and private sector individuals.

It is also tasked with recovering the proceeds of corruption and to take steps to prevent corruption.

The applicant first filed a writ in September 2023 but discontinued it in June 2024.

He subsequently filed a new one in July 2024.

However, after failing to submit a statement of case for nine months, he sought to withdraw the writ.

The Supreme Court struck out the case without granting him liberty to reapply.

The court further stated that the OSP should not be encumbered with such suits.

Subsequently, Mr Kuranchie filed a review application requesting the court to overturn its earlier decision barring him from reapplying.

After hearing arguments from all parties, the full bench of the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the review application yesterday.