Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu
The Minister of State in charge of Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, says former Chief Executive Officer of Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu, is still in prison custody despite the Court of Appeal overturning the10 years’ jail term handed her for stealing and causing GH¢93 million financial loss to the state.
Speaking in an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Channel One TV, he said claims that the former John Mahama appointee was never sent to prison and has been at home all this while is “blatantly false.”
He, however, rebuffed questions relating to the existence of any evidence that Tamakloe-Attionu is indeed in prison, indicating that the information provided by prison officials that she is in custody is sufficient.
He even suggested that there is no evidence that the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako (Chairman Wontumi), who was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for illegal mining related offences is in prison custody, except what prison officers have said.
“But why? What’s the evidence that Wontumi is in jail now? What’s the evidence that the person sentenced to prison last week is in jail at the moment? What’s the evidence? Should we publish a picture or should we show videos of Sedina in prison before we see that she was in prison? So that demand is untenable. The evidence that Wontumi is in prison is based on what the Prison Service has told you. Is that not so? Or the fact that you saw him being transported to the prison,” he said.
“But have you gone to the prison to see him? No. You don’t need to do. I’m saying that you don’t need to do so to accept the fact that as far as we are concerned, Wontumi is in prison. The agency or authority that has jurisdiction for that is the Prison Service. So that claim too was false. It was all part of this narrative aimed at somehow discrediting the process without basis,” he added.
Kwakye Ofosu also denied government’s involvement in Tamakloe-Attionu’s acquittal, noting that the Court of Appeal came to an independent decision that the prosecution could not prove her guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Acquittal
Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu was acquitted and discharged by the Court of Appeal on July 30, 2026, after holding that the charges that initiated the trial were defective.
The court, in its judgment, said the prosecution failed to lay sufficient evidence in proving the charges levelled against her.
The decision criticised the trial judge’s handling of the case, stating that she shifted the burden of proof onto the accused rather than the prosecution as the law demands.
Prior to the acquittal, Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu had been hiding in the United States since 2021 after failing to return to Ghana to face trial, when she was granted permission by the court to travel for medical checkup. The court had to declare her a fugitive.
She was extradited to Ghana after Mr. Godfred Yeboah Dame, during his tenure as Attorney General, initiated extradition proceedings against her, and same granted by a US Court in April this year.
Stay of Execution
Attorney General, Dr. Dominic Ayine, has filed an application seeking a stay of the execution of the Court of Appeal decision until the determination of an appeal at the Supreme Court.
The Attorney General argues that Tamakloe-Attionu is likely to leave the jurisdiction if she is released from prison before the Supreme Court gets to determine the appeal.
Former AG Disagrees
Former Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has criticised the Court of Appeal’s decision to acquit Tamakloe-Attionu, taking particular aim at the manner in which the whole appeal process was initiated and eventually decided upon, indicating 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 is of the opinion that the development falls in line with a grand scheme by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to free all its former appointees and allies who were facing criminal proceedings.
His criticism comes at a time of public outcry about the appellate court’s decision which cleared the former John Mahama appointee of all 78 charges levelled against her.
“The public opprobrium and rejection of the acquittal and discharge of Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu are merited considering the cogent evidence led at the trial, which enjoyed massive media coverage, and was thus easy for all to appreciate,” Mr. Dame indicated in a statement.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak