[ 2017-02-03 ]

Vice Pres. Mahmudu Bawumia

Special Prosecutor’s Office to be ready in December - Bawumia
The government has promised to set up the Special
Prosecutor’s Office to prosecute public
officials by the end of 2017.

It has also pledged that amendments to the
Criminal Code to make corruption a felony, instead
of a misdemeanour, will also be made by the end of
the year.

The Vice-President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia,
made these pledges at a regional workshop on
Beneficial Ownership Transparency Champions in
Accra yesterday.

“These are, indeed, some of the actions we
intend to implement this year,” he told
participants from Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana.

Organised by Transparency International (TI) and
its local chapter, the Ghana Integrity Initiative
(GII), with the support of UKAid, the two-day
seminar aims at mobilising support for the sharing
and use of information on beneficial ownership.

In May 2016, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria made
commitments at an anti-corruption summit in the UK
to establish beneficial ownership registers.

“We will work to ensure that beneficial
ownership information can be used effectively to
detect and fight corruption…” the three
countries had pledged in a communique issued after
the summit.

Beneficial ownership

Beneficial ownership relates to the control,
ownership and beneficiaries of the proceeds of a
legal entity, such as a company.

Generally, companies are set up with shareholders
or nominees who are individuals or groups
registered as the legal owners but who, sometimes,
do not exercise any control over the benefits of
the company.

That enables individuals to launder stolen funds
through the companies or trust funds by using
these corporate entities as a front to hide their
real identities.

Urgency

Dr Bawumia said indications from the World Bank
and the World Economic Forum were that about $1.25
trillion was lost annually through bribes, while
five per cent of global annual GDP, about $2.5
trillion, was lost through corruption.

He said figures from OXFAM also showed that poor
countries lost $170 billion in tax evasion, with
the organisation concluding that a fraction of the
amount could fund health services to save the
lives of about 150 million children.

He said it was against that backdrop that the UK
Anti-corruption Summit was organised last year,
attended by former President John Mahama.

Committed

While acknowledging the effort, Vice-President
Bawumia said the new government was fully
committed to the campaign, saying that with the
help of the country’s development partners, it
would ensure the provision of the needed funding
for the full implementation of the commitments,
which included beneficial ownership, contract
transparency, transparency on commodity markets,
preventing the facilitation of corruption and
transparency in the procurement process.

He said the UK summit was also to mobilise support
for the country’s National Anti-Corruption
Action Plan (NACAP), the Ghana Shared Growth and
Development Agenda (GSGDA), other commitments
under the UN Convention Against Corruption
(UNCAC), as well as other regional and
international instruments.

Progress

“Mr Chairman, I am glad to inform you that
Ghana, compared to its counterparts, has made
tremendous progress after last year’s summit in
London,” Dr Bawumia reported to participants.

He said a consultative workshop on beneficial
ownership had been organised in April 2016 for
state and non-state actors, while the Company’s
Act had been amended to make provision for
beneficial ownership in Ghana.

Additionally, the country had met the deadline for
the submission of a beneficial ownership road map
to the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative
(EITI) Secretariat in December 2016.

Care

“Ladies and gentlemen, the Ghanaian government
recognises the huge financial implication of this
commitment to our already constrained fiscal
space. However, we are resolved to make the needed
resources available for Ghana to put in place an
effective and efficient beneficial ownership
regime,” Dr Alhaji Bawumia said.

He cautioned, however, that care had to be taken
in the effort in order not to unnecessarily expose
people to criminal attacks.

Panama papers

The Chairman of the Board of GII, Mr I.K. Gyasi,
who chaired the opening session, said beneficial
ownership gained prominence with the Panama papers
last year that revealed the fraudulent acquisition
of funds and their hiding in phantom firms by
about 12 national leaders and 143 politicians.

He, therefore, underscored the importance of open
registers of beneficial owners and expressed
appreciation for the workshop to mobilise on the
effort.

The Executive Director of the GII, Mrs Linda Ofori
Kwafo, welcoming participants, said resources were
needed to carry through the campaign.

Source - ultimatefmonline.com

... go Back