Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu
Former Chief Executive Officer of Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu, was released from prison yesterday following the decision of the Office of the Attorney General (AG) to withdraw a motion seeking to stay the execution of her acquittal and discharge by the Court of Appeal.
A court in Accra issued a warrant for her release from prison just moments after the Attorney General withdrew a motion which sought to have her in prison custody pending the determination on an appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal that acquitted her last month.
The Court of Appeal was set to rule on the Attorney General’s motion for stay of execution, which had argued that Tamakloe-Attionu, who was jailed 10 years for stealing and causing about GH¢93 million financial loss to the state, will leave the jurisdiction if she is released from prison before the Supreme Court gets to determine the appeal against her acquittal.
But a representative from the Attorney General’s Office instead withdrew the application without any explanation, leaving the court to strike it out as withdrawn.
Reports later surfaced that the Attorney General had filed the same application at the Supreme Court, and same scheduled for October when the court resumes sitting after the legal vacation.
It is not clear what purpose that application serves, given the fact that the Court of Appeal’s decision essentially exonerates her of any wrongdoing and calls for her release from prison.
Acquittal
The Court of Appeal, on July 30, 2026, acquitted and discharged Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu, setting aside the 10 years’ jail term handed her for stealing and causing financial loss to the state.
The court, in its 94-page judgment on an appeal filed by the ex-John Mahama appointee, held that the prosecution failed to lay sufficient evidence in proving the charges levelled against her.
The court further criticised their colleague judge, Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, then a High Court judge, for the way she handled the case, stating that she shifted the burden of proof onto the accused rather than the prosecution as the law demands.
The appellate court’s decision expectedly split opinion, with many questioning the court’s reasoning, while others agreed it was proper.
The whereabouts of the about GH¢93 million the nation is said to have lost through the actions of the accused is one question many observers are demanding answers to.
The Attorney General immediately issued a statement indicating a disagreement with the Court of Appeal’s decision and a desire to pursue the matter at the Supreme Court.
However, there are many who thought it was a ploy to shift attention from the real questions being asked about the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government’s promise to fight corruption.
Others also criticised government for discontinuing the trial of former appointees of the party and those affiliated with it, while initiating new trials against past appointees of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Declared Fugitive
Tamakloe-Attionu had been in the United States since 2021 after failing to return to Ghana to face trial, after she was granted permission by the court to travel for medical checkup. The court had to declare her a fugitive.
She was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in absentia for allegedly bloating contracts and spending part of relief funds meant for victims of the Kantamanto fire outbreak.
Tamakloe-Attionu was also jailed for pocketing an amount of GH¢500,000 invested by MASLOC at Obaatanpa Microfinance Company Limited which was returned to MASLOC because of the high interest demanded, but the money never reflected in the accounts of the Centre.
She was arrested and detained in the United States in January 2026, and was subsequently extradited to Ghana after a court found that the information presented to it by the Ghana Government and its US counterpart “is competent evidence to establish probable cause that Tamakloe-Attionu committed the crimes with which she is charged and has been convicted.”
Former AG Criticism
Former Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, criticised the acquittal and discharge, taking particular aim at the manner in which the whole appeal process was initiated and eventually decided upon.
He indicated that the Office of the Attorney General under his tenure never received a notice of appeal filed by lawyers of Tamakloe-Attionu following her conviction and sentencing.
He was of the opinion that the development falls in line with a grand scheme by the NDC government to free all its former appointees and allies who were facing criminal proceedings.
By Gibril Abdul Razak