The High Court in Accra has granted the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) an additional four weeks to serve former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta and his former Chief of Cabinet, Ernest Darko Akore, with summons in the United States.
The decision follows a request by the prosecution for more time to complete the service process. The case has now been adjourned to October 29, 2026.
At the court’s sitting on Tuesday, September 29, the prosecution told the court that a team dispatched to the United States to engage the US Department of Justice on the service of the summons had not yet returned to Ghana.
The court subsequently granted the prosecution’s request for additional time to complete the necessary procedures.
Ofori-Atta is facing 28 counts of corruption and corruption-related offences arising from an OSP investigation into revenue assurance arrangements between Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
He is standing trial alongside seven other accused persons, including former GRA Commissioners-General Emmanuel Kofi Nti and Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah; former Commissioners of the Customs Division Isaac Crentsil and Kwadwo Damoah; Ernest Darko Akore; SML Chief Executive Officer Evans Adusei; and SML.
The OSP alleges that the accused persons were involved in corruption and corruption-related offences linked to the SML-GRA revenue assurance arrangements, which it says resulted in financial losses exceeding GH¢1.4 billion.
Those who have been served with the court processes and appeared before the court have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
At the previous hearing on August 27, 2026, the court adjourned the matter to September 29 to allow the prosecution additional time to serve Ofori-Atta and Akore with the necessary processes in the United States.
The case forms part of a broader set of prosecutions being pursued by the OSP that were affected by legal challenges to the Office’s prosecutorial powers.
Several OSP cases were put on hold from April 2026 following a High Court ruling that questioned the Office’s authority to prosecute independently of the Attorney-General.
The Supreme Court subsequently, in a unanimous decision, upheld the constitutional validity of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959).
By:Rachael Djabakie