The Criminal Division of the High Court has granted bail to three out of four persons standing trial for failing to declare their assets and sources of income as directed by the Special prosecutor.
A statement issued by the Office of the Special Prosecutor on Friday named the four as Issah Seidu, who works with the National Insurance Commission; James Keck Osei, who works with the Office of the Vice-President as an administrator, as well as John Abban and Peter Archibold Hyde, both of whom are senior officers with the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) were charged for allegedly failing to comply and declare their sources of income.
Their failure to declare their sources of income is in contravention of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) Regulation (Operations), 2018 ( LI 2374) which says:
Regulation 20 (1) of LI 2374 gives the Special Prosecutor (SP) the task to ask a suspect to declare his or her income or property as prescribed by Form 11A of the First Schedule of the LI.
Per Regulation 20(2) of LI 2374, a suspect who receives such a query from the SP has 30 days to supply the information.
According to Form 11A of the First Schedule of LI 2374, a suspect who refuses to comply with the directive from the SP within the 30 days stipulated period commits an offense.
Three out of the four accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges leveled against them.
The case has been adjourned to 13 March 2023.
When convicted for failing to declare property and income, a person is liable to a jail term of not below two years and not more than four years or a fine of not less than five hundred penalty units or both.
The substantive case against the accused persons is under investigation.
