Sedina Christine Tamakloe-Attionu
The long arms of the law finally caught up with convicted former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedina Christine Tamakloe-Attionu, who was extradited to Ghana yesterday from the United States to serve her 10-year jail term for stealing public funds and other offences.
For five years, the embattled former MASLOC boss, who was found guilty of bloating contracts and spending part of relief funds meant for victims of the Kantamanto fire outbreak, had been hiding in the US where she sought permission to seek medical help during the pendency of the trial in 2021.
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 landed at the Accra International Airport in the early hours of yesterday and was taken into custody by officials of the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Prison Service.
Necessary steps were then taken for her to be taken to a prison facility to begin serving her 10-year jail term which was handed down by a High Court in Accra in 2024.
The US Embassy in Ghana confirmed the successful extradition with a post on its Facebook page, indicating that “Justice has no borders.”
The statement added that the extradition signifies “our strong U.S.-Ghana law enforcement partnership in action, demonstrating a shared commitment to accountability, and the first extradition from the United States to Ghana since 2009.”
Conviction
A High Court in Accra, presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, a Justice of the Court of Appeal sitting as an additional High Court judge, in April 2024, convicted and sentenced Tamakloe-Attionu to 10 years’ imprisonment after finding her guilty of causing financial loss to the state.
She was sentenced to a total of 21 years’ imprisonment in hard labour for stealing (10 years), causing financial loss to the state (3 years), causing loss to public property (2 years), improper payment (6 months), unauthorised commitment resulting in a financial obligation for the government (6 months), money laundering (3 years) and contravention of the Public Procurement Act (2 years).
She was also fined a total of GH¢78,000 for the offences and, in default, she will serve another six years in jail.
An interdicted Operations Manager of MASLOC, Daniel Axim, was also sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for the same offence, for his role in the looting of state funds.
The two were found guilty and convicted of all the 78 charges levelled against them by the Office of the Attorney General in 2019 for various criminal acts that led to the state losing a whopping GH¢93,044,134.66.
A five-member Supreme Court panel presided over by Justice Amadu Tanko, assisted by Justices Samuel Asiedu, Senyo Dzamefe, Bright Mensah, Ackaah Boafo, on January 14, 2026, granted Daniel Axim bail in the sum of GH¢500,000 pending appeal.
Fugitive
Justice Asare-Botwe, on February 24, 2023, declared Tamakloe-Attionu a fugitive and granted an application to conduct the case in her absence following her refusal to return to Ghana to face trial after she was granted leave by the court to travel to the United States for medical checkup in 2021.
In June 2024, the Office of the Attorney General secured a warrant for the arrest of the convict, making it the second time a court had issued a warrant for her arrest, with the first one issued on November 16, 2021.
Arrest/Extradition
Tamakloe-Attionu was arrested and detained by US Marshals on January 6, 2026, and was being held at the Nevada Southern Detention Center pending legal proceedings to have her extradited to Ghana.
In April this year, a United States Magistrate judge, Daniel J. Albregts of the District of Nevada, ordered the extradition of Tamakloe-Attionu to Ghana to serve her 10-year jail term after finding that the information presented to it by the Ghana government and its US counterpart “is competent evidence to establish probable cause that Attionu committed the crimes with which she is charged and has been convicted.”
The court had rejected all the arguments made on behalf of the fugitive, who has been hiding in the United States since 2021, including the arguments that the offence for which she is being sought after in Ghana are not part of the Extradition Treaty between Ghana and the US.
The court, after considering the evidence before it as well as substantial case law, found that the relevant and applicable treaty provisions found in the Extradition Treaty and United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) between the US and Ghana “are in full force and effect and certification of Attionu’s extradition would not be in violation of the provisions found in 18 U.S.C. § 3184.”
BY Gibril Abdul Razak