Audio By Carbonatix
Private legal practitioner, Bobby Banson, says one can serve a prison term between two to four years if they fail to honour a lawful invitation by the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
According to him, per the OSP Act, refusing to appear before the Special Prosecutor can also warrant a fine since it is considered an offence.
Speaking in Joy FM Top Story on Tuesday, June 13, Mr. Banson said “when you are invited by the OSP and you do not comply with that invitation or the OSP requires your presence or requires you to bring a document and you do not honour that invitation, that in itself is an offence in the OSP Act.”
He explained that "the OSP Act says that if you refuse to comply with the lawful demand of the OSP.. so it could be an invitation. So if they invite you and you exercise your right that I will not honour the invitation, I believe they will go to the next step which will be to require your presence.”
Mr Banson further noted that the OSP has the power to order one's arrest without a warrant.
“Looking at the powers of the OSP, the OSP can arrest you, investigate you, and exercise lots of powers under the Act without necessarily going for court orders to do so,” he added.
His comment comes after former Secretary of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), Charles Bissue was declared wanted by the Special Prosecutor on June 13.
https://myjoyonline.com/charles-bissue-declared-wanted-by-special-prosecutor
Last week, the Office of the Special Prosecutor had secured an order from the court to arrest him.
This order was secured after Mr Bissue failed to honour an invitation by the Special Prosecutor last month.
Despite the order, the former Presidential staffer’s lawyer had insisted that his client will not turn himself in.
But reacting to this, Mr. Banson expressed surprise over the OSP securing a warrant of arrest for Charles Bissue.
This he says is due to the fact that he is allowed to arrest without a warrant just like a police officer, adding that a police officer can arrest you without a warrant if the officer has reasons to believe one has committed a crime or is in the course of committing a crime.
He, however, noted that the OSP may have peculiar reasons for securing an arrest warrant.
Meanwhile, former Secretary of the erstwhile IMCIM says he will avail himself before the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
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