Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid
A court has turned down a request to discharge former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid and seven others who have been accused of extortion.
Dr. Abdul-Hamid and seven others are before the court accused of extorting a total of GH¢291.574 million and $332,407.47 from bulk oil transporters and oil distributors.
Appearing before the court on Tuesday, lawyers for the accused sought to rely on a decision of a High Court which struck out all cases initiated by the Office of the Special Prosecutor for having no independent prosecutorial power, to have the accused persons discharged.
The request was opposed by Adelaide Kobiri-Woode, a Principal Prosecutor at the OSP, arguing that the Office possesses such authority under its enabling statutes – which are in force and operation and have not been repealed, amended, revoked or struck down.
The court, presided over by Justice Francis Achibonga turned that request, holding that there are various proceedings relating to the prosecutorial mandate of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, including the one at the Supreme Court.
He, therefore, adjourned the case to May 26, by which time the cases surrounding the OSP’s power to prosecute may have been resolved.
A High Court in Accra on April 15 held that the OSP does not have independent prosecutorial powers to initiate or conduct cases without a prior authorisation by the Attorney General.
The court, presided over by Justice Eugene Nyante Nyadu, subsequently ordered the Attorney General to take over all cases initiated by the OSP until such time that the authorisation is sought and granted.
The court also set aside all convictions secured by the OSP and ordered that the persons convicted be tried afresh.
The OSP had charged Dr. Abdul-Hamid and seven individuals as well as three companies with 54 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, a Director of Kel Logistics Limited and Kings Energy Limited as well as Kwaku Aboagye Acquaah, Director of Kings Energy Limited.
The three companies charged by the OSP are Propnest Limited, Kel Logistics Limited and Kings Energy Limited, while a suspect identified as Osei Tutu Adjei, a Director of Kel Logistics Limited is currently at large.
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.
However, during the pendency of the case, Albert Ankrah and Isaac Mensah secured a deal with the Office of the Special Prosecutor to testify as prosecution witnesses against the other accused persons.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak