The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, has renewed calls for the introduction of broad-based lifestyle audits and non-conviction-based asset recovery powers as part of efforts to strengthen Ghana’s fight against corruption. Mr Agyebeng said the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) would continue to champion reforms that would require persons whose assets are disproportionate to their known legitimate income to account for the source of their wealth.
He also called for the introduction of a reverse-onus mechanism under which a person found to possess property disproportionate to their known legitimate sources of income would be required to demonstrate that the property was legitimately acquired. According to the Special Prosecutor, unexplained assets should be liable to confiscation where the relevant threshold is established before a civil court, without making a criminal conviction a precondition for recovery.
He said such a framework would help tackle unexplained wealth while also assisting in the detection of fraud and undeclared income for tax purposes. Mr Agyebeng stressed, however, that the proposed system would not amount to a shortcut around justice or give authorities a licence for arbitrary confiscation.
The renewed call formed part of a broader declaration of what the Special Prosecutor described as the “rebirth” of the OSP following the Supreme Court’s July 29, 2026 decision affirming the constitutionality of the Office’s prosecutorial mandate.
The Supreme Court, in a unanimous 7-0 decision in Noah Ephraim Tetteh Adamtey v Attorney-General, upheld the constitutional basis of the OSP’s prosecutorial function, settling a legal dispute that had thrown the Office’s prosecutions into uncertainty. The ruling followed an April 2026 High Court decision which had questioned the OSP’s independent prosecutorial authority and disrupted ongoing proceedings.
Mr Agyebeng said the period of uncertainty had severely hampered the OSP’s investigative and prosecutorial work, but maintained that the Office had continued reviewing cases and, in some instances, had uncovered additional evidence and identified new suspects. “We will show no fear or favour,” he said, declaring that the OSP would rigorously investigate cases, vigorously prosecute where the evidence supports wrongdoing, recover assets and take steps to prevent corruption.
He argued that corruption cases should not be judged solely by the speed with which arrests are made or prosecutions commenced, noting that complex corruption investigations often require forensic analysis, credible intelligence, adequate resources and cooperation across jurisdictions.
The Special Prosecutor said the OSP would therefore continue to advocate stronger powers for anti-corruption institutions, particularly the OSP and the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).
He said lifestyle audits and non-conviction-based asset recovery represented, in his view, effective mechanisms for confronting unexplained wealth. The proposed framework, he explained, would focus on whether a person’s legitimate income could reasonably account for the property in that person’s possession.
Where the assets could not be reconciled with legitimate sources of income, he said, the unexplained portion should be liable to confiscation through civil proceedings. Mr Agyebeng’s comments signal a renewed push by the OSP for legislative and institutional reforms beyond the immediate question of its prosecutorial independence.
The OSP’s own account of the Supreme Court case records that the challenge sought declarations that prosecutorial authority was vested exclusively in the Attorney-General and could not be independently exercised by the OSP.
With that constitutional challenge now settled in the OSP’s favour, the Special Prosecutor says the Office is prepared to resume its anti-corruption work while pressing for wider legal tools to address unexplained wealth and corruption.
