Mpiani Is Corrupt �.But A-G Needs More Facts To Win � NDC

The National Democratic Congress (NDC), Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region, Hon Alfred Agbesi, has taken sides with the Attorney-General, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, against some party members and MPs who are calling for her removal from office. According to the MP, the Attorney-General needed to gather all her facts well enough to be able to proceed and prosecute corrupt past government officials. �If the A-G has to go to court, she has to do a lot of investigations...though it is clear that some officials of the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) Gov�t were corrupt, such statements must be backed by facts," he said. Speaking in an interview with Tema-based Adom FM, he cited the instance where almost all Ghanaians knew that there was something wrong with the way the Jubilee House was built under the Kufuor Administration. �When the Jubilee House was being built, the way Kwadwo Mpiani (then Chief of Staff), was going about the whole thing gave an indication that there was something wrong,� he said. However, he said perception was not enough to form the basis for prosecution, adding that prosecution depended on facts and in-depth investigations. Hon. Alfred Agbesi recounted that "officials (of the Ghana@50 Secretariat) took so much money yet, they went and came for more.� "When they were asked, they said unless they finished building the house, they could not (tell the cost)," Hon Agbesi revealed. Most NDC elements have bitterly complained that, it would be in the interest of President Mills and the NDC if Betty-Mould Iddrisu was immediately reshuffled and replaced with a more competent person. Some have attributed the non-prosecution and the failed prosecutions of corrupt former government officials to the Attorney-General�s lack of grasp of Criminal Justice Law. They argue that Betty Mould-Iddrisu is a lawyer who practiced most of the time on copyright law. They therefore want somebody well versed in criminal law. The Ashaiman MP contends that prosecution of corrupt officials would need the gathering of more facts, and so the Attorney-General should be given adequate time.