Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has said Ghana must amend its laws to make it easier to prosecute corruption by requiring people found with unexplained wealth to account for where their money came from.
Kpebu said introducing a reverse burden of proof for corruption-related cases was among the reforms he was advocating to strengthen the fight against corruption.
Under the proposed approach, a person found with substantial wealth that they cannot reasonably explain would be required to account for its source, rather than leaving investigators to prove exactly how the money was acquired.
“We’re pushing for that amendment so that there will be the reverse burden,” he said in an interview on TV3, adding that the principle had previously been used in Ghana to secure convictions involving public officials.
Kpebu argued that the current legal framework makes it difficult for investigators to prosecute cases involving unexplained wealth because they must establish where the money came from, even when the person possessing it cannot provide a convincing explanation.
“How would you know where the person got the money from? It’s difficult, almost impossible,” he said.
He cited a past case involving millions of dollars and Ghana cedis, in which attempts to explain the source of the money allegedly failed. Kpebu argued that under a reverse-burden system, an inability to provide a satisfactory explanation could help establish the basis for a corruption or money-laundering conviction.
He also referred to earlier prosecutions under a previous legal framework, arguing that the approach had helped authorities secure convictions against public officials.
Kpebu expressed optimism that the proposed reform could be passed, saying more Ghanaians were beginning to support the idea.
“I think a lot of Ghanaians have bought into the reverse burden rule and so I think with time it’s going to be passed as our new law,” he said.
