Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu has said that the MP's alleged to have received double salary during their tenure of office as Ministers under the else while Mahama government will bear the consequences of their actions if confirmed guilty.
Mr. Martin Amidu who was speaking to Citi FM's Umaru Sanda expressed shock that some of the affected MP's were trying to cover the 'criminal act' up by talking to the president.
He said, “What is worrying for me is the knowledge that some people are even talking to the president to compromise so that crime will be overlooked because they are Members of Parliamentâ€.
“… Why should a Special Prosecutor be prosecuting ordinary Ghanaians and your honourables will be involved in these things; then they will be talking to the president to wash it up. Then I have no need sitting here. I won’t even have the conscience to continue.
“Will I have the conscience to prosecute any other body for corruption if the CID finds something 'prosecutable' and are not allowed to prosecute because Members of Parliament are involved? That is not fair,†Mr. Amidu queried.
Twenty-five members of parliament were initially pinpointed and invited by the Criminal Investigations department, but 18 of them were later aked to disregard the invitation.
Some of the MPs who are being interrogated and cautioned for stealing include Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu, Second Deputy Speaker Alban Bagbin, as well as Wa Central MP and ex-minister of Public-Private Partnerships, Dr Rashid Pelpuo; Inusah Fuseini, former Lands and Natural Resources Minister; Comfort Doyoe Ghansah, former Minister of State in charge of Social and Allied Institutions; Mr Eric Opoku, former Brong Ahafo Regional Minister and Fifi Kwetey, former Deputy Minister of Finance.
Following the allegations leveled against the MP's, Minority in parliament threatened a suit against the CID of the Ghana Police Service, expressing the belief that the current government is resorting to intimidating tactics on its members to prevent them from criticizing the Akufo-Addo administration.
But, Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu on Thursday insisted that he will not have the conscience to prosecute ordinary Ghanaians if the 'double salary scandal' is not dealt with properly.
According to him, such action from MP's are unpardonable offenses which amount to abuse of office for private gain. He added that he was also once overpaid while serving as Deputy Attorney General but he returned the amount when he was notified; thus the MP's should have simply returned the money.
Martin Amidu revealed that, “Money was ever paid into my account…When my bank notified me I told them to return it because that is not what the Attorney General and I agreed. I could have kept it. This is what they should have done. You don’t keep the money for six months, one year, two years or three years, you’ve left office, one and half years, you’ve not made any efforts to return it. Then when the CID begins seeing it now, you are rationalizing it, and yet when the ordinary man takes plantain one bunch, he goes to jail for 15 years. So what is the political elite telling us?â€
“If it’s been happening since 1992 and no one has seen it, now it has been seen, those responsible should bear the consequence,†he stressed.