Former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng has said he feels targeted following his arrest by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
Speaking with TV3’s Alfred Ocansey in an exclusive interview on Wednesday, June 7 he said he found the arrest on Tuesday, May 16 “strange”, especially given the circumstances prior to its effect.
“We waited at the lobby down there [and] that was my first time in that building,” he narrated to Alfred Ocansey.
“We got there around 10 o’clock, waiting for my lawyer. When he came, we were taken upstairs to the 7th Floor or so, where the Office is and then we were ushered into a room. I was given a chair and opposite me was the Chief Investigator.
“Next to me on my right were my two lawyers and then some officers from that Office.
“So, as soon as I sat down, the Chief Investigator came to me. I was sitting down [then] he put his left hand on my right shoulder and said, ‘Professor, you are under arrest’.
“Why? He said they are investigating corruption and corruption-related activities of the IMCIM that I was chairman of. Any specific thing I had done? No, they are just doing their investigations but all the same I was under arrest.
“I found it very strange.”
He added “They did not even suggest self-recognisance bail. I needed somebody to bail me. So a friend of mine was down there and he came up and bailed me and so I left and they went with my friend to his house.”
Asked whether he feels targeted, he answered “Of course in a way. I will be a fool not to feel that way.”
The renowned heart surgeon was put under investigation following an invitation given to him by the Office weeks ago.
He was invited on corruption and corruption-related activities, particularly over his report on the dissolved Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM).
He was also arrested for alleged involvement in the missing of some 500 excavators and the involvement Symphony Limited, the company owned by his son, in illegal mining.
He was immediately granted bail of GH¢2 million.
