Claims I resigned because of non-payment of salary is ‘outright falsehood’ – Amidu

Former Special Prosecutor Mahama Amidu has refuted claims alleging that he quit his job as Special Prosecutor because of non-payment of his salaries.

According to Martin Amidu, this is among the many attempts by the President to put his integrity and reputation into disrepute following his resignation.

He added that the President’s statement indicating that there were funds made available to him for the compensation of his the staff is untrue.

“The President’s further directive that I could have paid the salary of my deputy and myself from funds provided to my office for compensation of employees is patently false,” he said.

In a 27-paged respond to what he described as “fabrications and falsehoods” in President Akufo-Addo’s acceptance letter of his resignation, Mr Amidu said his decision to resign was as a result of the threats he has received from the Presidency following findings on the Agyapa deal.

He further rejected claims that he deliberately refused to resource his office and staff with funds provided to his office.

Referring to paragraph 15 of the President’s letter which stated that “…the impression given by you that there was a deliberate intention to ensure your office didn’t function is the more startling”, Mr Amidu said he had no authority in his capacity as Special Prosecutor to make any payments.

“The Office of the Special Prosecutor was never copied or instructed to pay the compensation of the Special Prosecutor and Deputy Special Prosecutor and had no authority to do so in terms of the appointment letter under your signature,” he said.

“The combination of falsehood about funds to pay salaries and the allegation that I gave the impression that there was a deliberate intention to ensure any office did not function are not congruent with the other on common reasoning to be attributed to any President except if they were unfortunately intended for propaganda and deception by the President,” he added.

“Payment of salaries was not a reason given for my resignation which was premised solely on the traumatic experience I received from the President arising from the professionally conducted on the Agyapa Royalties Transaction’s anti-corruption assessment report,” he added.