Dr. Mustapha Hamid
The trial of former Chief Executive Officer of National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, has been adjourned to December 9, 2025, following the re-assignment of the case to a different court, as a result of the amendment of the charges against the accused persons.
The ‘Criminal Court 3’ was expected to retake the pleas of the accused persons after the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) had increased the charges from 29 to 54 charges of extortion and other offences.
But the case had to be adjourned because the docket had been transferred to ‘Criminal Court 4’ presided over by Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, which has adjourned the hearing to December 9, 2025.
Charges
The OSP has charged 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 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 are Propnest Limited, Kel Logistics Limited and Kings Energy Limited.
Another suspect identified as Osei Tutu Adjei, a Director of Kel Logistics Limited, is currently at large.
Meanwhile, an application filed by Dr. Abdul-Hamid asking the court to release his passport to enable him travel to Canada for a programme could also not be heard due to the change in the court and the new date set by the court.
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 indicates 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.”
BY Gibril Abdul Razak