The General Jurisdiction Division 10 of the High Court in Accra has ordered the Attorney-General to immediately take over all criminal prosecutions currently being handled by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
In its ruling delivered on Tuesday, April 15, 2026, the court declared all ongoing prosecutions initiated by the OSP as null and void, effectively halting multiple cases pending before various courts across the country.
The court also awarded costs of GH¢15,000 against the OSP.
The decision follows a judicial review application filed by one of the accused persons in a high-profile corruption case being prosecuted by the OSP. The case involves four individuals — Alhaji Issah Seidu of the National Insurance Commission, James Keck Osei, a former director at the Office of the Vice President, and two Customs officers, John Abban and Peter Archibold Hyde.
The four are facing charges of conspiring to seize containers of imported rice at the Tema Port using forged documents and a falsified letter purportedly from the Office of the Vice President.
Delivering the ruling, the judge held that while the OSP has the constitutional mandate to investigate corruption and related offences, it lacks the authority to initiate and conduct prosecutions without prior authorisation from the Attorney-General, as required under Article 88(4) of the 1992 Constitution.
The court therefore ruled that all such prosecutions are void and must now be taken over by the Attorney-General’s Department.
Reacting to the judgment, the Office of the Special Prosecutor said the ruling conflicts with an earlier decision by the Criminal Division of the High Court, which had deferred a similar application pending a Supreme Court determination on the OSP’s prosecutorial powers.
The OSP has indicated that it will take steps to challenge the latest High Court ruling