Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng says the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has saved the state more than 20 times the total resources allocated to it since its establishment.

Addressing a press briefing, he said the financial savings, alongside a number of institutional reforms and interventions, provide measurable evidence of the OSP’s contribution to Ghana’s fight against corruption.

“The OSP has saved the nation more than twentyfold the total amount of money released to it since its establishment, and it has thereby fully paid for and far above the resources invested in it,” he said on Wednesday, August 26.

Mr Agyabeng said the OSP had secured financial recoveries of GH¢8.5 million and US$2 million, in addition to movable and immovable assets linked to ongoing recovery proceedings.

According to him, the OSP’s interventions have extended beyond prosecutions to protecting state assets, improving revenue mobilisation and plugging leakages in government systems.

He cited the OSP’s intervention at the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), saying the office helped prevent the refinery from being “pawned off” and contributed to its return to operation after years of inactivity.

Mr Agyebeng also pointed to the OSP’s work in the customs sector, which he said had resulted in a "more robust system for auctioning seized items and a significant reduction in the abuse of the Customs Advanced Ruling regime."

He said these interventions were aimed at ensuring that the state recoups more revenue that could otherwise have been lost.

The Special Prosecutor further highlighted the OSP’s intervention in the government payroll system, which he said had so far saved the country a little over GH¢100 million.

“The OSP’s shake-up of the government payroll system has saved the nation a little over a hundred million cedis so far,” he stated.

Mr Agyebeng argued that when these savings and other financial benefits are considered against the resources invested in the institution, the OSP has more than justified its cost.

His comments form part of a broader defence of the OSP’s record amid calls by some critics for the institution to be scrapped or for its operations to be significantly restructured.