Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has seized and frozen more GH¢100 million and $100,000 worth of assets, as part of ongoing trial initiated against former Chief Executive Officer of National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid and nine (9) others.
According to the OSP, additional assets are under active tracing, pointing out that these actions are based on strong documentary, banking, and transaction evidence linking the proceeds to the alleged offences.
A statement issued by the OSP yesterday indicated that this case represents a major step in protecting public funds, ensuring accountability in the petroleum sector, and affirming that no public official is above the law.
“The seriousness of the charges and the scale of the alleged losses make this prosecution a critical test of Ghana’s commitment to fighting corruption,” the statement added.
The OSP was reacting to a widely circulated video on social media which captured Dr. Abdul-Hamid referring to his trial as “useless.”
The Office has slapped Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid and nine (9) others with 54 criminal charges, accusing them of extorting a total of GH¢291.574 million and $332,407.47 from bulk oil transporters and oil distributors.
The ten – seven (7) individuals and three companies were initially charged with 25 counts of charges, including extortion by a public officer, conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering.
The individuals are Jacob Kwamina Amuah, Coordinator of the Unified Petroleum Pricing Fund (UPPF) at NPA; Wendy Newman, a staff of NPA; Albert Ankrah, Isaac Mensah, all Directors of Kel Logistics Limited; Bright Bediako-Mensah, Director of Kel Logistics Limited and Kings Energy Limited as well as Kwaku Aboagye Acquaah, Director of Kings Energy Limited.
The three companies caught in the OSP’s alleged corruption and extortion web are Propnest Limited, Kel Logistics Limited and Kings Energy Limited.
The OSP says one suspect identified as Osei Tutu Adjei, a Director of Kel Logistics Limited, is currently at large.
Brief Facts
The OSP says the charges stem from investigations initiated by it in late 2024 into alleged unlawful conduct involving the diversion of public funds and collusion with oil marketing and bulk distribution companies.
The summary of facts indicate that investigations by the OSP show that between 2022 and December 2024, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, Jacob Kwamina Amuah and Wendy Newman under the colour of their office as officers of NPA, set up an extortionate scheme by which they unlawfully obtained GH¢291,574,087.19 and $332,407.47 from bulk oil transporters and oil marketing companies, which they knew they were not lawfully authorised to obtain.
It says the scheme was contrived by Abdul-Hamid, who sold the idea of the alleged criminal adventure to Amuah, who also recruited Newman as the primary conduit for receiving the proceeds of the crime.
The fact claims a total of GH¢24 million was handed directly by Amuah to Abdul-Hamid between January 2024 and December 2024 – “being proceeds of the criminal extortion scheme.”
The brief fact further points out that within the same period, Abdul-Hamid also directly received GH¢230,000 from one oil haulage company.
Of the total amount received by the three, a sum GH¢227,232,323.58 and $17,207.47 were paid through Newman, who disbursed it at the instruction of Amuah, the fact further alleged.
The investigations further revealed that Ankrah, Mensah, Bediako-Mensah and Acquah together with Osei Tutu Adjei, with the complicity of the accused persons, established and ran Propnest, Kel and Kings Energy “by which they proceeded to unlawfully launder the proceeds of the criminal adventure.”
This, the OSP claims, was done “through various transfers for the acquisition of movable and immovable property for the purpose of concealing or disguising the illicit origin of the proceeds of the criminal enterprise and to evade the legal consequences of the unlawful activity.”
The brief fact added that Amuah and Newman transferred various sums of money directly to three companies and funded the purchase of lands, the construction of houses, the purchase of trucks for oil distribution business, and the construction of fuel filling and service stations “in pursuance of the criminal adventure.”
BY Gibril Abdul Razak