Private legal practitioner Abraham Amaliba has challenged Attorney General Dr. Dominic Ayine to provide concrete evidence that the state has successfully recovered 60% of the funds in the Unibank case.
Mr. Amaliba stated that while the Attorney General’s recent decision to pursue a non-conviction-based asset recovery approach may be legally sound, it must be justified with verifiable results.
“We need to subject that decision to scrutiny. Is it actually true that 60% has been recovered? We need evidence to show that,” Mr. Amaliba insisted.
Dr. Ayine, who announced the new strategy of prioritizing asset recovery over criminal convictions, was defended by Amaliba as making a potentially strategic move after a thorough legal review.
“You have an Attorney General who has inherited a case that’s been running for seven years. He will definitely review the case,” Amaliba explained. “He may have looked at the matter and concluded, ‘I cannot guarantee a conviction, so why don’t I cut my losses and recover what I can for the state?’”
He added that prosecuting a case is an expense to the state. If the Attorney General believes that the state benefits more from recovery than a lengthy, costly prosecution, then that is a valid consideration.
Mr. Amaliba argued that the ultimate priority should be recovering state funds, not merely securing high-profile convictions. “As a nation and as a people, are we interested in recovering what has been lost, or are we interested in seeing a full trial where, in the end, someone might walk free?” he asked.
Responding to critics who claim the Attorney General is showing favoritism toward individuals with ties to the NDC, such as Dr. Duffuor, Mr. Amaliba dismissed the notion as politically motivated.
“Why is the prosecution always about NDC-connected people? This same Attorney General, Dr. Ayine, once prosecuted my own brother when he previously held the same office,” he revealed. He also noted that while legal decisions can cause public discomfort, “at the end of the day, the law must prevail.”
