Paul Adom Otchere and Kissi Agyebeng
Former Board Chairman of Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), Paul Adom Otchere, has filed an application seeking to quash a directive by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) which ordered him to declare his property and income.
The application, filed before a High Court in Accra, argues among others that the OSP’s directive issued on August 4, 2025 is unlawful, violates the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959) and its regulations, and constitutes an abuse of power.
Paul Adom Otchere is under investigation by the OSP for alleged corruption and related offences regarding the award of a revenue assurance contract by the GACL to Evatex Limited.
He and two other persons were detained on July 31, 2025 by the OSP following an invitation for questioning by the OSP in relation to the contract, which the Office says it is examining possible procurement breaches, including a sole-sourced contract awarded to a company other than the one approved by the GACL Board.
Mr. Adom Otchere was later charged and granted bail, and as part of the bail terms was required to present two landed properties (of no specific value) registered in his name.
“However, he has informed the OSP that he does not own landed property in Ghana. As a result, he remains in custody until the bail terms are satisfied,” the OSP indicated in an earlier statement.
On August 4, 2025, the OSP wrote to Mr. Adom Otchere asking him to declare his income and property, urging him to “take note that you commit an offence if you fail to return the completed forms to the OSP within thirty (30) days of your receipt of the notice and if you intentionally or negligently fail to disclose any information.”
The OSP also threatened that any property or income not declared is liable to confiscation to the Republic.
The Good Evening Ghana host, through his lawyer, former Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame, wrote back to the OSP asserting that Mr. Adom Otchere is not a public officer and the fact that the OSP’s Act 959 “provides no basis for disclosure of property, funds or income, or confiscation of property, funds or income in a vacuum.”
Application
He has now filed an application before a High Court seeking to block the OSP from making him declare his property and income, arguing that the request was unlawful and flagrant abuse of the laws under which the OSP operates.
He also argues that nowhere in the laws governing the functions of the OSP and L.I. 2374 is he mandated to compel the declaration of properties and income by persons he is merely investigating, has not charged before court or has not obtained any orders compelling declaration of properties and income from the court.
“That my former position as the chairman of the governing board of GACL to which the purported investigations relate, was not a public office, and in any event, the Office of the Special Prosecutor is not an office mandated by law to require disclosure of assets of public officers,” the application further asserts.
He further argues that the OSP’s actions are arbitrary, an affront to the provisions of the law regulating the performance of its functions, and must be checked by the court.
“That the threats of curtailment of my liberties issued by officers of the Respondent (OSP) as a result of my failure to fill the asset property and income declaration forms issued to me are clearly illegal and an assault on my fundamental human rights,” the application pointed out.
He is therefore, seeking an order to quash the OSP’s directive as being in violation of due process and relevant provisions of Act 959.
He is also seeking a declaration that threats issued by the Special Prosecutor and his staff of “legal consequences”, “confiscation” and “detention” are unlawful and amount to harassment.
Again, he is asking for an order prohibiting the OSP from detaining him or in any manner curtailing his liberties or abusing his rights as a result of his refusal to obey the directive of the Office.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak