The former Minister of Finance, Kenneth Nana Yaw Ofori-Atta, shall be re-entered on the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) wanted persons list if he fails to avail himself at OSP on June 2, 2025, Mr Kissi Agyebeng, the Special Prosecutor (SP), has announced.
“If Mr Ofori-Atta fail to attend the OSP on the scheduled date, he shall be re-entered on the OSP’s list of wanted persons and the OSP shall consider him a fugitive from justice, whereupon the OSP will cause the issuance of an Interpol Red Notice in this regard and also cause the initiation of extradition proceedings in any jurisdiction in which he may be found,” the SP said in a statement issued in Accra on Monday.
The latest development comes on the back of a suit filed by Mr Ofori-Atta in court against the OSP for declaring him wanted.
On February 12, Mr Agyebeng declared Mr Ofori-Atta, a fugitive from justice.
But, the OSP said he removed Mr Ofori-Atta’s name from the list of wanted persons based on the assurance from the former Minister of Finance that he would avail himself at the OSP.
“Mr Ofori-Atta formally requested the OSP to remove his name from the OSP’s list of wanted persons with the assurance to the OSP that he would make himself available for questioning, on a definite date. The OSP, in good faith and on the basis of Mr Ofori-Atta’s assurance, granted his request and removed his name
from the OSP’s list of wanted persons pending his personal attendance at the OSP on the definite date,” the statement said.
Mr Ofori-Atta is seeking declarations from the court that the action by the OSP was unlawful as it had no statutory powers to declare a person wanted without the permission of a court, and that it violated his fundamental human rights to personal liberty, free movement and to be treated fairly by administrative bodies.
He is further seeking declarations that the SP, who is a lawyer, breached the legal profession rules when he responded to letters by his lawyers through a public press briefing while the OSP had also acted capriciously, arbitrarily and unfairly for continuously keeping his picture as a “WANTED” person on its website.
Moreover, Mr Ofori-Atta is asking the court to place an injunction on the OSP from carrying out its threat to re-declare him as a “WANTED person” and “a fugitive from justice”.
Addressing a press conference in Accra on February 12, the SP said the former minister was declared wanted on charges related to contractual arrangements between Strategic Mobilisation Ghana
Limited and the Ghana Revenue Authority for the stated objective of the enhancement of revenue assurance in the downstream petroleum sector, upstream petroleum production, and minerals and metals resources value chain.
The other charges include termination of a Distribution, Loss Reduction and Associated Network Improvement Project contract between the Electricity Company of Ghana Limited and Beijing Xiao Cheng Technology (BXC).
BY MALIK SULLEMANA