Award-winning investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has accused the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) of mishandling the corruption case against former Public Procurement Authority (PPA) CEO, A.B. Adjei, warning that the prosecution is “becoming a foolish case.”
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Friday, December 5, Manasseh expressed deep frustration over repeated delays and procedural blunders that have weakened the high-profile case stemming from his 2019 documentary, Contracts for Sale.
“I cannot give you timelines when this investigation will be done, and if it is done, you will know. The way this is being handled, eventually it is becoming a foolish case,” Manasseh he said.
He revealed that a pendrive submitted by the OSP to the court as evidence did not contain the actual Contracts for Sale documentary, despite the court admitting it. The OSP later described the incident as an error.
Manasseh warned that restarting the trial due to such mistakes could collapse the case, especially since key witnesses, including himself, may be unwilling to testify again after lengthy cross-examinations.
“If they have to start the case all over, it will depend on whether I will be prepared to go and testify again, and whether the charged person who has been cross-examined already would want to start again. There are so many implications for this case,” he stated.
The 2019 exposé showed how A.B. Adjei, through his company Talent Discovery Limited (incorporated in June 2017), allegedly used restrictive tendering to win government contracts and then sold them to third parties. In one sting operation, the company offered to sell a GH¢22.3 million contract to a fictitious entity.
Following the documentary, then-President Nana Akufo-Addo suspended Mr Adjei on August 22, 2019, over conflict of interest and corruption allegations.
Manasseh clarified that his criticism is directed at the OSP’s administrative and procedural handling, not the judiciary.
“It is not because the courts have frustrated it,” he stressed, adding that he has not spoken to Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng in the last two weeks.