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Ken Ofori-Atta has worn many hats in his lengthy profession as an funding banker, entrepreneur and till final yr Ghana’s Davos-pleasing finance minister. Now he has a brand new one: a wished man on Interpol’s pink listing.
Ofori-Atta, 65, who has been searching for medical remedy within the US, is needed to reply fees of “utilizing public workplace for revenue” throughout his 2017-2024 tenure as finance minister, the longest in Ghana’s historical past. He denies all fees.
The Interpol pink discover is the newest salvo in a authorized drama between Ofori-Atta and the Workplace of Ghana’s Particular Prosecutor (OSP), which declared him a “fugitive” in February as a part of a sprawling anti-corruption drive launched by President John Mahama, who took workplace in January.
Ofori-Atta informed the Monetary Occasions earlier than the Interpol pink discover was issued that he was “puzzled and dismayed” by the flip of occasions. He had initially requested the prosecutor to talk to his attorneys on condition that he would “be in another country for the following few months”.
Ofori-Atta mentioned he was not the “originating nor implementing minister” in 4 of the 5 circumstances introduced up by the prosecutor, referring to authorities contracts in energy, petroleum and well being.
The previous finance minister can also be wished in relation to an estimated $58mn of public funds spent on Accra’s ill-fated National Cathedral project, which was deserted two years in the past. A religious Christian who as soon as led a prayer session for the success of a eurobond providing, Ofori-Atta personally backed the undertaking.
The Nationwide Democratic Congress gained December’s presidential election promising to stamp out corruption that had allegedly taken maintain in the course of the earlier administration of the New Patriotic Social gathering (NPP), of which Ofori-Atta was a number one mild.
The NPP authorities, headed by Nana Akufo-Addo, Ofori-Atta’s cousin, had come to energy promising a squeaky-clean technocratic administration, but it surely was compelled to default on the country’s debt in December 2022 and search a $3bn IMF bailout.
As finance minister, Ofori-Atta blamed the Covid-19 pandemic and a pointy forex depreciation for the default, however critics say authorities profligacy was additionally an element.
Operation Get better All Loot (Oral) was initiated by Mahama to doc alleged circumstances of corruption. A report submitted in February claimed greater than $20bn had been stolen.
Vibrant Simons, head of analysis on the Imani think-tank in Accra, mentioned Mahama’s anti-corruption marketing campaign was a response to public anger at a “deepening sense of impunity” among the many political elite. “Excessive-profile prosecutions are central to this technique,” he mentioned.
Ghana is taken into account one among Africa’s most profitable democracies, with a fairly buoyant financial system regardless of the 2022 default.
However because the corruption probe was launched, the capital Accra has been gripped by concern. Officers who served in Akufo-Addo’s authorities have been privately questioning whether or not they can be subsequent on the particular prosecutor’s docket. Many describe the marketing campaign as vindictive and attention-grabbing.
At the least one former high-ranking Akufo-Addo adviser has taken to driving round Accra with personal safety to beat back police consideration.
Ofori-Atta is the highest-profile, however not the one, former authorities official to be caught within the widening probe. In March, the personal residence of Ernest Addison, former central financial institution chief, was raided at daybreak by some 15 closely armed troopers trying to find “vaults” he allegedly saved at dwelling. No vaults have been discovered, in line with native media reviews.
Imani’s Simons mentioned Mahama, whose earlier administration from 2012-17 was itself accused of corruption, had not made the “substantive modifications” wanted to root out the lingering notion of pervasive graft. The think-tank, and civil society as a complete, has known as for better transparency round authorities spending.
It’s also pushing for merit-based appointments, “life-style audits” of these in authorities roles who stay lavishly, and for unexplained wealth orders to be constructed into the civil service code.
“These are a number of of many governance reforms demanded over time by civil society organisations which have at all times been brushed apart [in favour of] beauty actions,” Simons mentioned.
An preliminary thaw in relations between Ofori-Atta and the OSP, headed by Kissi Agyebeng, broke down when the previous finance minister sued the OSP, citing illegal remedy and demanding the elimination of “damaging” content material from the company’s social media accounts.
At a latest press briefing, Agyebeng mentioned he had rejected Ofori-Atta’s provide to seem at a digital listening to.
“We would like him right here bodily, and we insist on it,” Agyebeng mentioned. “A suspect in a legal investigation doesn’t decide and select how the investigative physique conducts its investigations and the strategies appropriate to him and his comfort.”
Ofori-Atta didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
