The Member of Parliament for Asante-Akim North, Andy Appiah Kubi has disclosed that he made a promise to the supposed wealthy businessman who attempted to bribe NPP parliamentarians to back down on their demand for the removal of the finance minister that his identity would not be revealed.
According to him, he also instructed the unnamed businessman “to go and sin no more”.
The MP made the above revelation on TV3’s The KeyPoints programme on Saturday, January 6, 2024.
In December last year, the Office of the Special Prosecutor that was investigating the bribery allegation accused the MP and his colleagues of not cooperating with the investigation, forcing him to end the investigation.
“Mr. Appiah-Kubi’s refusal to cooperate with the investigation and his refusal to disclose the identity of the suspect are most regrettable. It is quite perplexing for a Member of Parliament to level accusations of attempted bribery on a person (whether certain or uncertain) in a most spectacular and public manner on a network of a major media house and then stage a bizarre volte-face by refusing to cooperate with the investigation and refusing to disclose and/or confirm the identity of the suspect,” the OSP stated in its report dated December 28, 2023.
The Special Prosecutor in his report failed to name the businessman though he indicated that he has a sense of who that person was.
“The OSP is almost convinced that Mr. XXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXX is the businessman who attempted to offer to a section of the majority caucus of Parliament with the intention of influencing their demand for the resignation or removal of Mr. Ofori-Atta as Minister for Finance,” the report said.
Read also: Lack of cooperation forces OSP to end probe into Parliament bribery saga
Nonetheless, the MP said but for the intimidating and boastful posture of the OSP officials that interrogated him, he would have broken that promise to keep the identity of the businessman a secret.
“I was treated as a hostile witness, being intimidated, other witnesses who are MPs were sacked because the official said he was in control that was malicious… If he had comported himself, we would have cooperated,” Mr. Andy Appiah-Kubi asserted.
He added that if the OSP officials had been a bit ethical in their approach “I would have revealed the identity”.
The MP insisted that indeed the attempted bribe took place but “I made a promise to him [the businessman] that I’m not going to disclose your identity to the public. Go and sin no more.”
Mr. Andy Appiah-Kubi would also not mention the amount the so-called businessman was willing to part with in order to keep Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta at post in the interest of his businesses.
But the other panel members including legal practitioner Martin Kpebu and professor in political science Professor Ransford Gyampo were not enthused about the decision of the MP to still keep the name secret.
They argued that the MP should prioritise the larger interest of the state over the promise he made to the businessman not to reveal his identity, and make the name public, but the MP would not budge.