Hot SourceThe Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has provided a detailed timeline of its efforts to extradite former Finance Minister Kenneth Ofori-Atta, while also addressing what it describes as a “leakage of highly sensitive communication” that poses “grave risks” to its investigations.
The clarification from the OSP, issued on 20 October 2025, follows public comments by the Deputy Attorney General on GHOne TV suggesting the Attorney General’s Department had received no response to repeated requests for the investigation docket on Ofori-Atta.
The OSP stated that its corruption-related investigation, initiated under the OSP Act, 2017 (Act 959), identifies Ofori-Atta as the “prime suspect.” It noted that the former minister, who left Ghana in January 2025, has “shown clearly that he is unwilling to voluntarily return to the jurisdiction.”
The OSP’s statement laid out a sequential account of the legal processes it has undertaken since May 2025:
✓ By end of May 2025: The OSP obtained a judicial warrant of arrest for Ofori-Atta, declared him a fugitive, and placed him on its Wanted Persons list.
✓ Early June 2025: The office successfully had Ofori-Atta placed on INTERPOL’s Red Notice.
✓ 2 June 2025: The OSP triggered the formal extradition process by submitting a request to the Chief of Staff at the Presidency for the “provisional apprehension” of Ofori-Atta.
✓ 3 June 2025: The Chief of Staff transmitted the OSP’s request to the Attorney General, who acts as the Central Authority for such mutual legal assistance requests.
✓ 13 June 2025: The Attorney General acknowledged the request and asked the OSP for a copy of the docket and to nominate two officers for a prosecution team.
✓ 20 June 2025: The OSP provided the names of its two nominees. Regarding the docket, the Special Prosecutor informed the Attorney General that the OSP was “in the process of boarding-up the various dockets,” a task extended due to a search and seizure operation at two offices of Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) on 10 June 2025, which yielded a haul of new evidence.
The OSP confirmed that it noted a “leakage on social media” on the night of 16 October 2025 of official communications between itself, the Chief of Staff and the Attorney General. The OSP “confidently states that the leakage of the official documents did not arise from its end.”
In response to the accompanying commentary that the OSP was frustrating the extradition, the office stated, “The OSP firmly places it on record that the extradition process was triggered by the OSP… The OSP is not frustrating and will not frustrate its own extradition request.”
It emphasised that its investigations are independent and that “reasonable patience is required for the detailed examination and analysis of the newly discovered evidence” from the SML operation. “The OSP does not sacrifice excellent and professional investigations on perceived frustration over a response,” the statement read.
The OSP clarified that extradition is a complex, multi-agency procedure involving several sequential steps, and assured the public that these “processes are ongoing effectively.”
It stated that it is “not at loggerheads or in dispute whatsoever with the Attorney General’s Department,” describing the two offices as “distinct by design but remain complementary arms of justice.”
The OSP committed to continuing full cooperation with the Attorney General’s Department to ensure the matter proceeds lawfully.
The OSP confirmed that “investigations remain very active” and that the Special Prosecutor will brief the public on “concluded investigations and their outcomes before the end of October 2025.”
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