The High Court in Accra has granted the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) an additional four weeks to complete the process of serving former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta and his former Chief of Cabinet, Ernest Darko Akore, with summons in the United States. The development has resulted in the adjournment of the case, involving Ofori-Atta and seven other accused persons, to October 29, 2026.
At Tuesday’s hearing on September 29, the prosecution informed the court that a team sent to the United States to engage the US Department of Justice on the service of the summons had not yet returned to Ghana. The prosecution consequently requested more time to complete the required processes, a request the court granted.
Ofori-Atta is facing 28 counts of corruption and corruption-related offences arising from the OSP’s investigations into revenue assurance arrangements between Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). The other accused persons are former GRA Commissioners-General Emmanuel Kofi Nti and Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah; former Commissioners of the Customs Division Isaac Crentsil and Kwadwo Damoah; Ernest Darko Akore; SML Chief Executive Officer Evans Adusei; and SML itself.
According to the OSP, the accused persons were involved in corruption and corruption-related offences linked to the SML-GRA revenue assurance arrangements, which allegedly resulted in financial losses exceeding GH¢1.4 billion. Those who have been served with the summons and appeared before the court have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
At the previous hearing on August 27, 2026, the court adjourned the matter to September 29 to give the prosecution additional time to serve Ofori-Atta and Akore with the necessary processes in the United States. The case forms part of a broader series of prosecutions by the OSP that were affected by legal challenges to the Office’s prosecutorial powers. Proceedings in several OSP cases had been stalled since April 2026 after a High Court ruling questioned the Office’s authority to prosecute cases independently of the Attorney-General.
The Supreme Court subsequently, in a unanimous decision, upheld the constitutional validity of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959).
