The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has frozen all assets of the late CEO of the Forestry Commission, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie aka Sir John.
The latest move is part of investigations, the office has commenced, into the acquisition of state lands and properties that were contained in his will.
On Sunday, May 22, it emerged that the will of Sir John contained some parcels of land at the Achimota Forest Reserve and the Sakumono Ramsar site.
It also contained four parcels of specified and unspecified acres of land in the Achimota Forest, which the late politician bequeathed to named persons.
The will also had huge sums of money in both his local and foreign accounts.
As a result of the public uproar that greeted the news, the OSP in a press statement issued on Thursday, May 26 said it has commenced investigations into it.
Last week, the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD)-Ghana commended the OSP for its swiftness to investigate suspected corruption and acquisition of state lands by the late Sir John.
It said the responsiveness of the OSP demonstrated how eager it was to get to the bottom of all the allegations and rumours surrounding the sale of lands at the Achimota Forest and the Sakumono Ramsar Site.
“So, we welcome the press release and the response by the Special Prosecutor but we are motivated by the same reasons why we submitted this petition to the Special Prosecutor,” a researcher at CDD, Gilbert Asiamah, said.
Earlier, an anti-corruption group that operates under the auspices of the CDD, Corruption Watch, petitioned the Special Prosecutor to probe the acquisition of the said lands.
The group’s Technical Advisor, William Nyarko, stated in a letter that it is an offence for a person to use public office for personal profit.
Corruption Watch believes that the late Sir John, abused his public office and dishonestly used it for his private benefit.
Source: MyABCLive
