Minority threatens court action over AG’s decision to drop Duffuor case

The Minority has asked the Attorney-General, Dr. Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, to immediately reverse his decision to discontinue the high-profile criminal case against Dr. Kwabena Duffour and seven others, or face legal action.

Addressing journalists in Accra on Monday, July 28, the Ranking Member on the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament, Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi, criticised the Attorney-General’s decision to enter a nolle prosequi — a legal procedure used to drop charges — in The Republic v. Kwabena Duffour & 7 Others.

The case stemmed from alleged financial crimes uncovered during the Bank of Ghana’s financial sector clean-up exercise, with UniBank at the center of the controversy and a staggering GHS 5.7 billion reportedly unaccounted for.

“The Attorney-General’s decision calls for serious scrutiny,” the he declared, calling the move “legally questionable and ethically dangerous,” with serious implications for justice, public accountability, and the fight against financial crimes in Ghana.

Anyimadu-Antwi challenged several aspects of the Attorney-General’s justification for discontinuing the case, particularly the newly introduced “60% recovery threshold” cited in a July 22 press release.

According to the Attorney-General, this benchmark — met by the accused — served as grounds to halt the prosecution in the national interest.

But the Minority raised pressing questions:

* What is the legal basis of this 60:40 recovery policy?
* Was it ever made public or approved by Parliament?
* Why was no court-supervised plea bargain or conviction secured, as required under Section 35 of the Courts Act?

Anyimadu-Antwi further accused the Attorney-General of sidestepping well-established legal procedures.

“This approach ignores both the principles of plea bargaining under Ghana’s criminal law and the requirement that restitution must be supervised by the courts,” he argued.

Anyimadu-Antwi also raised a potential conflict of interest involving Dr. Ayine, questioning whether he had previously served as legal counsel for Dr. Duffour, and demanding clarity on the implications of such a relationship if it existed.

In a call to action, he urged Parliament, the Ghana Bar Association, civil society, and the general public to resist what they described as a dangerous precedent that undermines justice.

“We are giving formal notice to the Attorney-General. If this decision is not reversed within a reasonable time, we will proceed to court to challenge it in its entirety,” Anyimadu-Antwi warned.

He concluded by emphasising that “justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done,” and reiterated their commitment to upholding transparency, rule of law, and public trust in Ghana’s legal system.