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A member of the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) team, Martin Luther Kpebu, has disclosed that the committee is not the body responsible for the recovery of what has been stolen from the state.

He says the team is only preparing the grounds for the actual exercise which involves the investigation and prosecution of suspects of state looting to take place.

The ORAL, a promise made by President Mahama, during his campaign for the 2024 elections, is an initiative meant to retrieve all assets attained from the state illegally by some entities.

He has set up a five-member committee to receive on his behalf, reports of alleged state looting for subsequent investigations by appropriate state agencies.

Meanwhile, many, especially members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), have questioned the legality of the committee saying it lacks the constitutional backing to carry out its mandate.

However, speaking on the KeyPoints on TV3 Saturday, January 18, 2025, renowned lawyer and member of the team, Martin Kpebu, indicated that they are not responsible for the actual retrieval of whatever have been taken illegally from the state.

He explained that they are only gathering evidence of looted assets for the appropriate anti-graft agencies to make investigations and prosecution, describing their role as that of the biblical John the Baptist paving way for the Christ to come.

He further asked those questioning the legality of the committee, if the police, CHRAJ and other state agencies were non-existent at the time former President Kufuor set up an office for a similar mandate.

“When President Kufuor was in office, he set up the ‘Office of Accountability’ to receive complaints of corruption, abuse of office, etc. At the time President Kufuor set up the office, didn’t the police exist? Didn’t EOCO exist? Didn’t CHRAJ exist? So, this argument that there are law enforcement agencies, with due respect, it’s threadbare, it doesn’t hold muster.

“But, like I said, the value of it is that, by citizens rising and cautioning us, puts us in check, that we shouldn’t overstep our bounds. But like I said, we are John the Baptist, we came to pave the way. We are not the Saviour, Jesus himself, the real ORAL implementation, he will come,” he stated.

Mr. Kpebu highlighted the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s interest in working with the ORAL.

“OSP issued the half-yearly report, in there they said they will work with ORAL. So it’s okay, let the comments come and we’ll see what we’ll do with that,” he added.

Those questioning legality of ORAL have ‘fallen into an error of legal reasoning’ – Dafeamekpor