Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu says emails and the identification of individuals who allegedly received money could provide crucial evidence in establishing whether Ghanaian public officials participated in the alleged bribery scheme linked to the AKSA Energy deal.

According to him, investigators must establish a clear evidentiary link between the alleged payments and any Ghanaian official they seek to prosecute.

Speaking on Joy FM's Top Story on Monday, August 10, Mr Kpebu said the strongest evidence would be for the former Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) Managing Director, Asante Kwaku Berko, who has been convicted in the United States in connection with the bribery scheme, to identify the individuals to whom the alleged payments were made.

“The open and shut method would be for Asante Berko to give the names of these persons that the money was paid to. Yes, that would be the very strong way of proving it,” he said.

Mr Kpebu also pointed to emails referenced in the US indictment as another potentially significant source of evidence.

He explained that Ghanaian investigators could request access to the emails allegedly sent by Asante Berko to individuals connected to the transaction and use the information contained in them to establish further links.

“In the indictment, they mentioned that they have emails that Asante Berko sent to certain persons. So I can imagine that OSP, they will ask for those emails,” he said.

According to him, the emails could reveal the identities of persons with whom the convicted individual communicated and provide investigators with leads for further inquiries.

Mr Kpebu further expressed hope that Asante Berko would cooperate with Ghanaian authorities as investigations continue.

He noted that Berko is also a Ghanaian citizen and referred to Article 41 of the 1992 Constitution, which places a responsibility on citizens to help combat corruption and the misuse of public funds.

He said the evidence contained in the emails, coupled with any information provided by Asante Berko, could therefore be critical in determining whether any Ghanaian officials were involved.

The comments follows the Deputy Attorney General, Justice Srem-Sai saying his office is working with authorities in the United States to pursue other individuals implicated in a bribery scheme linked to a power plant development contract between a Turkish energy company and the government of Ghana.

Mr Kpebu maintained that the strength and quality of the evidence will ultimately determine whether any individual can be successfully implicated or prosecuted.