The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has rejected suggestions that it is frustrating the Attorney General’s Department in efforts to extradite former Finance Minister Mr Kenneth Ofori-Atta to Ghana, describing such claims as “inaccurate and misleading”.
In a detailed statement issued on Monday, October 20, 2025, the OSP clarified the procedural steps already taken in the ongoing corruption and corruption-related investigations against Mr Ofori-Atta, who left Ghana in January 2025 and has since been residing in the United States.
“The OSP is not frustrating and will not frustrate its own extradition request,” the statement stressed. “Therefore, there is absolutely no reason for the Attorney General’s Department to feel frustrated in respect of a matter it is not substantively involved in.”
The clarification follows remarks made by the Deputy Attorney General during a GHOne TV interview, suggesting that the Attorney General’s office had written several times to the OSP requesting the case docket to facilitate extradition but had not received a response.
According to the OSP, it had lawfully obtained a judicial warrant for Mr Ofori-Atta’s arrest by May 2025, declared him a fugitive, and successfully placed him on INTERPOL’s Red Notice in June. The office subsequently initiated the extradition process through the Chief of Staff on June 2, 2025, who transmitted the request to the Attorney General the following day.
The OSP noted that the Attorney General acknowledged receipt of the request in a letter dated June 13, 2025, and requested a copy of the docket as well as the inclusion of two OSP officers in the prosecution team—requests to which the OSP responded formally a week later.
The Special Prosecutor explained that delays in providing the full docket were due to ongoing evidence analysis following a major search and seizure operation conducted jointly with National Security at Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) on June 10, 2025.
“Reasonable patience is required for the detailed examination and analysis of the newly discovered evidence,” the OSP said. “We do not sacrifice excellent and professional investigations for perceived frustration over a response.”
The office also condemned the leak of official correspondence between the OSP, the Chief of Staff, and the Attorney General’s Department that circulated on social media last week, insisting that the breach did not originate from its end.
Reaffirming its commitment to institutional cooperation, the OSP underscored that the extradition process is a “multi-agency procedure” involving several statutory actors, including the courts, the Attorney General, and foreign authorities.
“The OSP and the Attorney General’s Department are distinct by design but remain complementary arms of justice under Ghana’s constitutional architecture,” the statement emphasized. “Differences in function do not imply conflict; they ensure accountability through procedural checks and balances.”
The OSP assured the public that investigations into Mr Ofori-Atta’s case remain active and that an update on the outcome of the probe would be provided before the end of October 2025.
