Confidential Documents Missing in Ghana’s Attorney General’s Office

Attorney General Betty Mould-Iddrisu - Looking for Answers

It appears that confidential documents kept in the office of Ghana’s Attorney General and the offices of state prosecutors have been stolen. This is the claim made by Betty Mould-Iddrisu the country’s Attorney General and has called for an immediate investigation into the alleged theft. Betty Mould-Iddrisu said her office is taking steps to disrupt possible loopholes in the justice ministry. She went on to say “We were conducting investigations with the view to initiating prosecution against firms and certain individuals in Ghana. And unfortunately, the draft charge sheet and some other documentation have found their way into the Ghanaian media, and have now in fact been put on the websites of certain Ghanaian media organizations.”

The attorney general’s office said that the missing documents include an unfinished charge sheet with various charges it was contemplating bringing against a Ghanaian oil exploration company called EO Group This company, EO Group is a partner of the oil exploration firm Kosmos, which together with Tullow Oil Company are developing the Jubilee oil Fields in Ghana.

The Attorney General said she was very concerned about the apparent theft and that there is need to ascertain how the files were stolen. “I have no idea the documents in question went missing from actually the prosecutors’ offices, not my personal office. However, other documentation, which have found their way into the media were extremely confidential documents which were in my office also and they have gone missing,” she went on to say. It has been reported that some Ghanaian media organizations posted details of the missing files on their websites. They reported that the stolen documents have a charge sheet indicating 25 charges levelled against the company EO Group and its directors. Charges range from causing financial loss of several billions of dollars to Ghana’s National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), to money laundering and conspiracy to forge official documents.

Mould-Iddrisu insisted that there is need to beef up the security at the justice minister. “I think it is important to know what is happening and take steps to plug any loopholes or leaks that I may have in my own office and in the offices of the prosecutors. Certainly, we are going to tighten up our security and I’m already taking steps to put in place even more enhanced security in my own personal working area and also within that of the prosecutors,” she said.

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