OSP Press Briefing
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of the media. We have the following updates on four cases:
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Cecilia Abena Dapaah
It would be recalled that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) commenced investigation in July 2023 in respect of suspected corruption and corruption-related offences regarding large amounts of money and other valuable items involving Ms. Cecilia Abena Dapaah, a former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, and her associates.
After nearly seven months of extensive investigation by the OSP and a parallel inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States, no direct and immediate evidence of corruption was found in respect of seized funds and frozen bank accounts linked to Ms. Dapaah and her associates – though the investigation identified strong indications of suspected money laundering and structuring, beyond the direct mandate of the OSP.
In January 2024, the OSP referred the case to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) for commencement of investigation into the identified indications of suspected money laundering and structuring – which are under the direct mandate of EOCO.
In May 2024, EOCO returned the entire docket back to the OSP on the back of their reasoning that since money laundering is not a substantive offence but a collateral offence which must be founded on a predicate offence, EOCO did not have a mandate to commence investigations into the matter since it could not premise its investigation on any predicate offence.
By a letter dated 14 May 2025, the new leadership of EOCO requested the OSP to forward the docket back to EOCO for a review and commencement of investigation.
Under the cover of communication dated 29 May 2025, the OSP forwarded a duplicate docket of the case back to EOCO.
It is our considered opinion that the docket serves as a valuable background resource for EOCO to commence its own investigation in respect of aspects of the case the OSP does not have a direct mandate.
The OSP would lend its full collaborative support to EOCO in its review and investigation and probable further action.
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Rep. v. Charles Bissue and Another
On 28 April 2025, the OSP filed criminal charges against Charles Bissue, the Secretary of the disbanded Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, and Andy Thomas Owusu in respect of fifteen counts of corruption and corruption-related offences.
Andy Thomas Owusu, the second accused, has since negotiated a plea bargain with the OSP, which has been filed in court. The processes in respect of the plea bargain, which are restitutive and reparative in nature, would be concluded in court in the coming days.
The Special Prosecutor accepted Andy Thomas Owusu’s offer of restitution and reparation to the Republic on the following considerations in accordance with section 71(4) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959):
i. The history of Mr. Owusu with respect to criminal activity.
ii. The level of cooperation Mr. Owusu exhibited during the investigation.
iii. The likelihood of obtaining a conviction if the case proceeds to trial.
iv. The probable effect on witnesses of a trial.
v. The need to avoid delay in the disposition of other pending cases.
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National Petroleum Authority
In November 2024, the OSP commenced investigation into suspected corruption and corruption- related offences in respect of the operations of National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and the activities of some of its officials.
The OSP investigation has revealed that between 2022 and 2024, some high ranking and other officials of NPA devised and implemented a corrupt scheme of using public office for profit – through threats, intimidation, coercion, suggestions, bribery, and inordinate regulatory duress – to obtain, for their personal benefit, large sums of money from oil marketing companies and other entities under their statutory regulatory, licensing, oversight, and monitoring mandate in the petroleum downstream industry.
As at close of day on 30 May 2025, the OSP had uncovered, through tracing and trailing, of an amount of GHC280,516,127.19 being proceeds of the corrupt scheme, some of which has been used by the perpetrators to acquire identified and traced apartments, suites, houses in-country and abroad, twenty-two fuel haulage trucks, and the incorporation, acquisition, and operation of oil marketing companies to compete with the oil marketing companies they were regulating.
The OSP, before the end of June, would file criminal charges against the first batch of the perpetrators and complicit oil marketing companies and their officials. Upon filing, we would brief you in detail in respect of who did what, who acquired what, and what has been recovered.
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Kenneth Nana Yaw Ofori-Atta
We recall that by a letter dated 24 January 2025, Kenneth Nana Yaw Ofori-Atta, a former Minister of Finance was informed that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has commenced investigation into suspected corruption and corruption-related offences regarding cases in respect of which the OSP considered him a suspect. Further, he was directed to attend, in person, the OSP on 10 February 2025 for interviewing. Mr. Ofori-Atta was out of the jurisdiction at the time.
By a letter dated 31 January 2025, Mr. Ofori-Atta informed the OSP, through his lawyers, that he was out of the jurisdiction indefinitely on medical grounds and that the firm would notify the OSP of his arrival in the country in aid of rescheduling his personal attendance at the OSP. Further, the lawyers offered its willingness to provide the OSP with any information we may require to aid in the investigation until his arrival in the country.
Upon receipt of these representations from his lawyers, the OSP, by a letter dated 5 February 2025, informed Mr. Ofori-Atta that the OSP did not need or required notification from his lawyers of his future arrival in the jurisdiction. The OSP acknowledged his lawyers’ offer to provide us with information in aid of the investigation. However, the OSP insisted that his personal attendance at the OSP was required.
The OSP directed Mr. Ofori-Atta to indicate, by close of business on 10 February 2025, a reasonable date of his return to the jurisdiction and attendance at the OSP. The OSP warned him if that if he failed so to do, the OSP would take all necessary legal steps to secure his return to the jurisdiction and attendance at the OSP at our own choosing.
Mr. Ofori-Atta failed to indicate a reasonable date of his return to the jurisdiction upon the expiry of the 10 February 2025 deadline, except to still persist in his expressed intent of remaining indefinitely outside the jurisdiction by the transmission of his lawyers of a purported and brusque medical letter on 10 February 2025, which only sought, in effect, to state that he may undergo a possible surgical intervention in March 2025.
In the considered opinion of the OSP, that medical letter could not be held to be a disclosure of a reasonable date of Mr. Ofori-Atta’s return to the jurisdiction and attendance at the OSP since it merely indicated that there may be a possible surgical intervention that may or may not occur in March. The letter, which was in no way a medical report, neither stated nor demonstrated that Mr. Ofori-Atta was a travel risk or that he was an invalid who needed around-the-clock intense medical attention to the point that travelling to the jurisdiction would endanger his life.
Upon the expiry of the 10 February 2025 deadline, the Special Prosecutor publicly declared Mr. Ofori-Atta a wanted person and a fugitive from justice on 12 February 2025 – on the ground that his avowed posture of remaining indefinitely outside the jurisdiction without indicating a reasonable time of his return to the jurisdiction showed clearly that he had no intention of voluntarily returning to the jurisdiction.
By a letter dated 17 February 2025, Mr. Ofori-Atta’s lawyers transmitted to the Special Prosecutor, a communication laced with vituperation and designed variously as a denigration of the OSP; a lecture on their suppositions as to the mandate of the OSP; a threat of legal action; a sort of homily as to how the OSP should conduct its affairs; an attack on the person of the Special Prosecutor; and a suggestion that the Special Prosecutor had embarked on a personal vendetta against Mr. Ofori-Atta – without disclosing the alleged series of retaliatory, vengeful, or hostile acts the Special Prosecutor had directed at him or alleged exchange of such acts between Mr. Ofori-Atta and the Special Prosecutor.
Crucially, the 17 February 2025 letter from Mr. Ofori-Atta’s lawyers failed to indicate a reasonable date of Mr. Ofori-Atta’s return to the jurisdiction and attendance at the OSP. On this reckoning, the OSP, by a letter dated 17 February 2025, re-affirmed and restated to Mr. Ofori-Atta that he remained a wanted person and a fugitive from justice. The OSP further stated that this tag would so remain until he indicated a reasonable time of his return to the jurisdiction with the necessary and reasonable assurances of abiding by his indicated reasonable time, or until such time that the OSP enforced his return to the jurisdiction and attendance at the OSP, whichever came first.
By a letter dated 18 February 2025, Mr. Ofori-Atta’s lawyers communicated to the OSP that he was scheduled for a possible surgical intervention in the United States on 20/21 March 2025 and further that taking the date of the possible surgical intervention into account, he would require a recovery period of six to eight weeks. On this basis, his lawyers stated that he should be able to return to the jurisdiction between 14 and 30 May 2025.
By a letter dated 18 February 2025, the OSP acceded to Mr. Ofori-Atta’s request to return voluntarily to the jurisdiction between 14 and 30 May 2025, as the Office deemed the indicated recovery period reasonable in the circumstances. Consequently, the OSP removed Mr. Ofori- Atta’s name from the list of wanted persons pending his voluntary return to the jurisdiction based on his own indicated dates.
Consequently, the OSP directed Mr. Ofori-Atta to attend the OSP, in person, on Monday 2 June 2025 at 13:30 GMT for interviewing. The OSP emphasised that if he failed to voluntarily return to the jurisdiction within his stated dates, and if he failed to attend the OSP on the rescheduled date of Monday 2 June 2025 at 13:30 GMT, his name would be re-entered on the list of wanted persons and the OSP would consider him a fugitive from justice, whereupon the Office would take all necessary legal steps to secure his return to the jurisdiction and attendance at the OSP at our own choosing.
By a letter dated 28 May 2025, Mr. Ofori-Atta’s lawyers informed the Special Prosecutor that a medical expert has diagnosed Mr. Ofori-Atta with cancer and has earmarked 13 June 2025 for surgery for which reason he would be unable to return to the jurisdiction as scheduled. His lawyers stated that, to the knowledge of the OSP, this has been brought to the attention of the court before which Mr. Ofori-Atta is presently pursuing a human rights claim against the OSP and the Special Prosecutor.
His lawyers stated further that in order not to hold the Office back in the performance of its function they had Mr. Ofori-Atta’s instructions of his readiness to go through video recorded interview for the purpose of eliciting his caution statement. His lawyers offered to meet the Special Prosecutor in person or approach the bench for the purpose of viewing Mr. Ofori-Atta’s biopsy report – whichever suited the Special Prosecutor.
Now let’s step back a bit from the 28 May 2025 letter from Mr. Ofori-Atta’s lawyers and place matters in their proper context.
The letter from Mr. Ofori-Atta’s lawyers dated 18 February 2025 clearly indicated that the possible surgical intervention to be performed on him was to occur 20/21 March 2025, upon which reckoning the OSP carefully considered the recovery period and indulgently pushed Mr. Ofori- Atta’s attendance at the OSP to 2 June 2025.
Therefore, Mr. Ofori-Atta had a duty to promptly inform the OSP of any fundamental change in his medical circumstances on 21 March 2025, when the advertised surgical intervention was not performed – to enable the OSP reschedule a new date of his attendance at the OSP to accommodate any such material changes in his medical condition and treatment itinerary.
Mr. Ofori-Atta has known, at least, since 21 March 2025, that no surgical procedure was to be performed on him in March. Yet, he purposively sat by indolently and chose not to inform the OSP of such fundamental changes in his circumstances. Instead, about sixty-seven days after learning of the alleged changed circumstances around 21 March 2025, Mr. Ofori-Atta elected to
spring a surprise on the OSP just six days before his scheduled attendance at the OSP by offering to undergo a video recorded interview and a viewing of his biopsy report. Back to the 28 May 2025 letter from the lawyers of Mr. Ofori-Atta. By a letter dated 30 May 2025, the OSP declined Mr. Ofori-Atta’s offer of video recorded interview for the purpose of eliciting his caution statement. This Office has always insisted on his personal attendance, and we have indicated clearly to him that we are unwilling to waive it. If we were amenable to taking any such statement from Mr. Ofori-Atta in absentia we would have done so in February.
We want him here physically and we insist on it. A suspect in a criminal investigation does not pick and choose how the investigative authority should conduct its investigations and the methods suitable to him and his convenience. We will not countenance such conduct – not in this case, or in any other case.
Further, the OSP has declined Mr. Ofori-Atta’s invitation to view his biopsy report as we consider it a pointless exercise. This is because it is common learning that a biopsy report contains nothing more than a conclusion, upon the removal and examination of tissue, cells, or fluids from a living body, that some disease or malady was indicated in the samples. A biopsy report is not an expression of a reasoned medical opinion that the subject is an invalid and unable to travel – as Mr. Ofori-Atta seeks to suggest is his condition and for which reason he cannot return to the jurisdiction.
This much is clear – since 24 January 2025 till date, Mr. Ofori-Atta has failed to show any medical report which suggests that he is a travel risk and unable to return to the jurisdiction by reason of his medical condition. It has all been his singular say-so.
Therefore, the OSP views Mr. Ofori-Atta’s lawyers’ letter dated 28 May 2025 as an expression of utter bad faith on the part of Mr. Ofori-Atta, and it confirms our long-held well-considered opinion and conclusion that Mr. Ofori-Atta has no intention of voluntarily returning to the jurisdiction and to attend the OSP.
Further, this Office is unaware of his purported information to the court, whether orally or by written statement, of the alleged change in his circumstances.
Today is Monday 2 June 2025. It is more than three hours past the scheduled time of Mr. Ofori- Atta’s attendance at the OSP and Mr. Ofori-Atta failed to attend the OSP. Mr. Ofori-Atta’s conduct is totally unacceptable and a baleful spite at law enforcement and criminal investigations. It ends here. It ends today. We would no longer accommodate him.
Consequently, the OSP re-declares that Mr. Ofori-Atta is a wanted person and a fugitive from justice. His name is hereby re-entered on the OSP’s list of wanted persons.
The OSP would take all necessary legal steps to secure Mr. Ofori-Atta’s return to the jurisdiction and to answer to the criminal enquiries against him.
In pursuance of this, about thirty minutes before this briefing, I triggered processes for the issuance of an INTERPOL Red Notice for the location and provisional arrest of Mr. Kenneth Nana Yaw Ofori-Atta in whichever jurisdiction pending extradition or surrender.
Around the same time, I dispatched a request for extradition processes to be instituted for the provisional apprehension in any jurisdiction in which Mr. Ofori-Atta may be located or found, and his extradition to the Republic of Ghana.
The OSP would prefer criminal charges in the courts against Mr. Ofori-Atta in due course – whether in absentia or otherwise.
The principle upon which we proceed is that – no person, regardless of title, status, or medical condition, is beyond the reach of inquiry by the OSP.
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Thank you for coming.
Kissi Agyebeng
The Special Prosecutor 2 June 2025