Director of Strategy, Research, and Communication at the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), Sammy Darko, says the OSP will not allow the ongoing extradition process involving former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to be politicized.
He dismissed suggestions of tension between the OSP and the Attorney-General’s office over the extradition process of Mr. Ofori-Atta.
Speaking on TV3 on October 21, Sammy Darko said the Office has been working diligently to ensure Mr. Ofori-Atta’s return to Ghana and would not jeopardize months of investigative work.
“The OSP, as you are aware, has been working tirelessly to bring Mr. Ofori-Atta back to Ghana, and it will not do anything to frustrate all the months of work that it has put together,” he said.
“The OSP is not going to allow this process to be politicized because Ghana has one shot to bring back Mr. Ofori-Atta. If we allow it to be politicized, our chances diminish.”
Mr. Darko stressed that there was no friction between the OSP and the Attorney-General’s office, following comments by Deputy Attorney-General Justice Srem-Sai that the OSP had failed to provide an extradition docket to enable the AG to initiate the formal request.
“I don’t think that there’s any issue between the OSP and the Attorney-General’s office, except those who do not understand. The issue is also not about a docket,” he said.
He mentioned that the OSP has already secured key documents necessary for extradition, including an arrest warrant and an active Interpol Red Notice issued in June 2025.
“One of the important documents you need is the arrest warrant. The OSP has that. Since we got the arrest warrant against Mr. Ofori-Atta, he has sued the OSP about seven or eight times, and the team has been battling these lawsuits in court,” he said.
“The next thing you need is an Interpol Red Notice. The OSP worked tirelessly and secured it, and the Red Notice is alive as we speak. Interpol has written to us to justify why he should continue to remain on it. Almost every six months we have to justify why a person should stay on the notice.”
He added that the Red Notice has effectively restricted Mr. Ofori-Atta’s movements as he used to move between the UK and the US, but they are aware he’s now restricted to Maryland, Virginia, and Washington.
“Those who think nothing has been done — a lot has been done to even restrict his movement to one particular place,” Mr. Darko noted.
Mr. Darko noted that the OSP is finalising the compilation of additional documents required for the extradition, including the offences being charged, legal justifications, and documentation proving that the case is not politically motivated.
“The issue of political character, political bias, witch-hunt. You need to justify that the person is not being persecuted but prosecuted for stated offenses. That is the most important,” he said.
He added that investigators are analysing several additional documents they found in order to build a stronger case.
“We need time to analyse these documents and add them. So it’s not like we’ve not given the Attorney-General any briefing or information. We are only adding to it,” he explained.
