President John Dramani Mahama has instructed Dr. Dominic Ayine, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, to commence immediate investigations into the cases captured in the Operation Recover All Loots (ORAL) report.
This, the President said, was to prosecute anyone found liable for corruption or related offences.
President Mahama gave the directive upon receiving the report from Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of ORAL, and handed over the same report to Dr. Ayine at the seat of government in Accra.
ORAL was set up by then President-elect Mahama on December 18, 2024, to gather information on corruption, to be passed on to the appropriate government institutions for further investigation.
The President reiterated that this was a defining moment in their fight against corruption.
President Mahama said from the onset of his administration that he had declared that Ghana’s resources belong to the people of Ghana and must be used judicially for their collective good. He said the diversion of public funds for personal gain undermines development, erodes public trust, and deepens inequality.
He said it was for this reason that ORAL was launched, to ensure that what had been wrongfully taken from the state was restored to the Ghanaian people.
The President commended the members of the ORAL Team for their dedication and professionalism in carrying out these vital national assignments without compensation, without expectation of any remuneration.
He said the recommendations of the report would be carefully studied, and where legal action and investigations were warranted, they would be pursued without fear or favour.
On his part, Mr. Ablakwa said that of the 36 cases that the ORAL Team had reviewed in detail, if the state was successful in recoveries, the government could retrieve as much as $20.49 billion.
He cited cases such as the National Cathedral, PDS, SML, and the GNPC Saltpond decommissioning, declaring that there was a great deal of resources belonging to the taxpayers that could be retrieved.
Other members of the team include Mr. Daniel Domelevo, a former Auditor-General; Commissioner of Police (COP) Nathaniel Kofi Boakye (rtd); Mr. Martin Kpebu, a private legal practitioner; and Mr. Raymond Archer, an investigative journalist.
