Private legal practitioner and social activist, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, has suggested what he believes is one of the key reasons and underlying factors behind the Attorney General’s decision to enter nolle prosequi in certain high-profile cases.
According to him, the Attorney General’s Department has, over the years, been largely unsuccessful in prosecuting cases that center on white-collar crimes.
Barker-Vormawor believes this has contributed to the current Attorney General’s decision to drop charges in several cases, including those involving former Minister of Finance, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, and seven others who faced charges related to the collapse of uniBank; and the acquittal of the defunct Beige Capital Bank founder, Michael Nyinaku.
“The AG’s department has always been ineffective in prosecuting white collar crime. And that’s something that, as a nation, should worry us. This lack of efficiency has become one of the real reasons why the current Attorney General was forced to file nolle prosequis in a number of cases,” he posted on X on Saturday, July 26, 2025.
Barker-Vormawor also claimed that the state was able to convict and jail William Ato Essien, former founder of the defunct Capital Bank, because he opted for a plea bargain and did not go through a full trial.
He also explained how the Attorney General’s Department was unable to secure convictions in other cases, which ultimately led to their discharge.
“In fact of all these banking sector clean up, the only reason why Ato Essien is in jail is because he chose to opt for a plea rather than go through full trial. Apart from that the AGs bungled every single case they handled,” he said.
He described the developments as “a serious problem,” cautioning that the ineffectiveness of the AG’s department could undermine the success of the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) initiative.
“For ORAL to succeed, real capacity building in white collar investigations and prosecutions are almost essential to its success. When I say capacity building, I mean more than just one-off workshops where they go and doze off and be paid per diem.
“We need senior foreign experts brought in as technical experts on contracts for years to help develop real technical capacity of 100-250 prosecutors for our country 10. If not, that 60% kraa, we are lucky,” he added.
Read his full post below:
Let’s Talk The Acquittal of the Beige Capital Founder
1. This week, news broke that the Founder of Beige Capital has been acquitted because the Prosecution failed to even prove the basic elements of the offences he was charged with. He did not even need to open any defence, the…
— Osagyefo Oliver Barker-Vormawor (@barkervogues) July 26, 2025
MAG/AE
Meanwhile, watch what Jane Reindorf Osei says about Ghana’s readiness for tourism investment:
