The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP)has condemned issues of state capture, corruption and fraud in the society because they undermined the development of the nation.
He said these acts dissipated resources and affected steps to use meritorious standards to offer opportunities and allocate resources to deserving citizens.
The OSP indicated that there appeared to be a raise in the inordinate control of state institutions and public decision-making process which undermined existing laws and weakened the legal system for private gain.
Kissi Agyebeng, the Special Prosecutor,was speaking at the 37th International Conference and Meeting held in Accra which was under the theme: ‘State Capture and Corruption’.
According to him, the abuse of entrusted power for private gain was exacerbated by capital flights, stashing of ill-gotten wealth in foreign accounts, sunk in ill-progress, secreting illicitly gorged up bounties in other jurisdictions to avoid detection and evade recovery.
Mr Agyebeng said no one could put an actual price tag on attendant social and economic cost of state capture, corruption, and fraud while a lot of effort was being made to counter the phenomenon but there was still much room for improvement.
“Our foreign partners should join in the fight against corruption, as the OSP and its agencies cannot by themselves tackle the menace because the canker of state capture, corruption, and fraud, which constituted collective pandemic in our part of the world, has increased.
“There is much promise in the country in tackling such challenges due to opportunity to change the narrative and to get issues effectively and efficiently working however, no matter how well-intended and well-designed the agencies live up to their billing, they will not achieve much on their own in-country without necessary cooperation from our foreign partners,” Mr Agyebeng intimated.
He stated that no matter how state capture, corruption, fraud, and asset recovery were characterised one it should be recognised they were stubbornly transboundary and cross-border to adopt innovative ways in engaging in corrupt acts and escape the law.
Mr Agyebeng said his outfit had established several agencies under key institutions such as the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) Economic, Organised Crime Office (EOCO), Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NAAP) and OSP to effectively and efficiently tackle state capture, corruption and fraud.
