Martin Amidu storms MTN Head office for Ayariga’s call records

In a bid to take up the corruption bull by the horns, Special Prosecutor Martin Alamisi Amidu, perhaps not wanting any interference, visited the head office of telecommunication giants MTN, to demand for the call logs of Mahama Ayariga on Thursday, January 24.

Flanked by his Secretary and another officials from his outfit, the Special Prosecutor was made to wait for about 30 minutes at the premises after which he was asked to return at a later date, ghanaweb.com gathers.

Earlier, an Accra Circuit Court had ordered Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) to produce the call records of a conversation between Mahama Ayariga, the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central and an officer of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

This was to help the office of the Special Prosecutor to complete an investigation in which Mr. Ayariga is a person of interest.

But in a quick rebuttal Mr. Ayariga directed his lawyers to challenge the directive from the Court in order to halt the move by the Special Prosecutor.

According to a report from myjoyonline.com the Bawku Central MP noted that he would have handed his MTN call records to the Special Prosecutor if the request was made directly and not through an “over-broad order”.

“I, Mahama, Ayariga would have gladly personally handed my MTN call records to Mr Martin Amidu, if he had just asked me directly, so he will see that I have never placed a call to Mr Kwasi Gyimah-Asante’s phone. I still do not know who Kwasi Asante-Gyimah is.

“I, however, think that in the interest of developing clarity on the law protecting the privacy of the communication of Ghanaian citizens on mobile telecommunications platforms, and setting proper precedents, the breath of the court order should be subjected to legal scrutiny. I have therefore instructed my lawyers accordingly”, he is quoted to have stated.

Martin Amidu has previously accused Mahama Ayariga of attempting to stop an investigation into the suspected commission of corruption and corruption-related offences.

In a statement released by his office, the Special Prosecutor indicated that the legislator had sent some personal friends, former colleagues, chiefs, pastors among others, to beg him [Amidu] to stop the investigations against him [Ayariga].

He further noted that as a result of the attempts, he had reported the Bawku Central MP to the Economic and Organized Crime Organization (EOCO) for attempting to block a probe into the acquisition of three used white Toyota Land Cruiser V8 vehicles after refusing to honour an invitation by EOCO over the matter.

“After undertaking preliminary investigations into the suspected commission of corruption and corruption-related offences including the abuse of public office for private gain by the Honourable Mahama Ayariga, Member of Parliament for the Bawku Central Constituency, my office decided that there were sufficient grounds to invite the suspect for the conduct of full investigations into the allegations,” the statement said.

“The preliminary investigations pertained to the importation into Ghana through corrupt means and corruption-related activities of three used white Toyota Land Cruiser V8 vehicles by using a Parliamentary Resolution dated 7th April 2017 contracting a facility of US$22, 500, 000.00 between the Parliamentary Service and the Societe Generale Bank (Ghana) which was for the purchase of one brand new official vehicle for each of the 275 Members of Parliament.

“The suspect refused to report to the offices of EOCO in Accra as demanded by a publication at page 26 of the Daily Graphic of 20th June 2018 with vehicle numbers GR 2220-18, GR 2221-18, GR 2222-18, GT 2243(sic)-17 and GT 4054-13. Consequently, it fell on me to write to the Speaker of Parliament with a copy to Honourable Mahama Ayariga (the suspect) in my letter dated 26th June 2018 to release the suspect to report to EOCO on 3rd July 2018.

“When the Suspect, Honourable Mahama Ayariga, received his copy of my letter to the Speaker he immediately started to get people he perceived could put pressure on me (such as personal friends, former colleagues, chiefs, men of God, etc.), to abate the investigations being conducted in the performance of my functions under Acts 959 and Act 804. I asked EOCO on a number of occasions to warn the suspect to desist from his conduct of obstructing the investigations by soliciting others to put pressure on me to abate same to no avail”.