The Special Prosecutor says he has always had the utmost respect for the former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng.

This respect, according to Kissi Agyebeng, must however not interfere with his work.

Clarifying an invitation to the former Minister, which later resulted in an arrest, Mr. Agyebeng said he has been placed at the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to investigate corruption and corruption-related offences and prosecute persons who are found culpable.

He explained that despite the status of Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, it was lawful for the office to charge him.

“I respect the credentials of the Professor, and I doff my hat to him. You know me very well and I am an academician as well so I respect such people on all scores.

“I mean the CV is unbelievable, I respect that and I applaud him for that but I have a charge to keep. The charge I have to keep is to the Republic of Ghana and to the public,” he said.

Speaking on Newsfile on Saturday, June 10, Mr Agyebeng asserted that when a corruption case comes before him, he first does his investigations to gain more information.

He added that when a person charged with corruption appears before the office, “depending on what we deem to be the charges we are envisaging against you, we take action appropriately.”

The Special Prosecutor noted that the public has the luxury to declare someone as virtuous in the country.

He explained that “in consecrating your saint and heroes, mind you, I am your conscience, I’m the spirit of the nation and the office stands for that.

“In the estimation of the office, there are no saints, there are no heroes. Now if I approach this job of fighting corruption, that there are some persons in the society who have attained the status of sainthood, we will lose the fight against corruption”.

Commenting on whether Prof. Frimpong-Boateng cannot attract self-recognizance bail due to his status, the Special Prosecutor said “You have your saint, I don’t have a saint. In your estimation, the man is a saint, but for my angle, I treat no one as a saint."

Mr Agyebeng noted that there have been a lot of issues regarding illegal mining – of which Prof Frimpong-Boateng was the Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining which has been dissolved.

He further explained that the committee failed to account for a lot of things involving ‘galamsey’, adding that as far as the OSP is concerned, when investigating such issues, Prof Frimpong-Boateng who was in charge of the committee must be questioned.