The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) is facing mounting criticism over its handling of the Ken Ofori-Atta matter, amid strong claims from the former Finance Minister’s US-based lawyer that the anti-graft body has failed to establish any crime and has instead embarked on what he describes as a personal and politically motivated pursuit.
From what the lawyer described as an illegally obtained warrant, through an unnecessary and ultimately suspended Interpol Red Notice, to what they call false public claims about extradition efforts, the lawyer argued that the OSP’s actions point to an intention to pursue and discredit a former public official rather than to establish the truth and pursue justice.
‘No crime identified’
In an exclusive interview with Newscenta, Enayat Qasimi of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston in Washington DC delivered a scathing assessment of the OSP’s conduct, arguing that months of public rhetoric, dramatic announcements and international manoeuvres have produced no clear allegation of criminal wrongdoing against his client.
According to Mr Qasimi, the central failure of the OSP’s case is simple but fatal: it has not identified a specific crime, nor explained what Mr Ofori-Atta personally did to warrant criminal charges.
“This is not an investigation aimed at establishing the truth.”
“It is the aggressive pursuit of a person, not the prosecution of a crime,” he said in the interview conducted through Zoom.
Dispute over cooperation with investigators
Kissi Agyebeng, the Special Prosecutor, insists that Mr Ofori-Atta is required to return home to face trial.
His lawyer, however, maintains that the former minister has never refused to cooperate with lawful investigations and has consistently expressed his willingness to comply with Ghanaian law.
He disclosed that as far back as late January 2025, Mr Ofori-Atta’s legal team formally wrote to the OSP to express readiness to cooperate with investigations.
That overture, Mr Qasimi said, was flatly rejected.
According to him, the OSP showed no interest in engaging Mr Ofori-Atta’s lawyers or exploring alternative lawful means of interviewing him, insisting instead on physical appearance as the only option.
To the defence team, this posture was not about evidence-gathering but about exerting pressure.
“What the OSP wants is not information or clarification,” Mr Qasimi argued. “It wants Mr Ofori-Atta, and it wants him in a very specific way.”
Arrest warrant under scrutiny
Central to the lawyer’s criticism is the arrest warrant secured by the OSP in February, which he described as illegal and constitutionally defective.
He contends that the warrant was issued without any sworn statement or affidavit, a basic legal requirement, and without the presentation of probable cause linking Mr Ofori-Atta to any criminal offence.
“That warrant should never have been issued,” Mr Qasimi said.
“There was no statement under oath, no evidence laid before the court, and no probable cause established. Yet it was used as the foundation for far-reaching actions.”
Interpol Red Notice controversy
Among those actions was the move to trigger an Interpol Red Notice, a step the defence insists was both unnecessary and unlawful.
Mr Qasimi pointed out that Interpol notices are tools of international police cooperation designed to help locate individuals whose whereabouts are unknown.
In this case, he said, the OSP was fully aware of Mr Ofori-Atta’s location, making the Red Notice redundant.
“The only purpose it served was reputational damage,” he said, describing the move as punitive rather than investigative.
Indeed, the defence maintains that the attempt to internationalise the matter collapsed under scrutiny.
After a Red Notice was issued in June, the OSP publicly claimed in July that it had submitted extradition processes to US authorities.
By October, however, it emerged that this claim was false, further undermining the credibility of the prosecution’s public narrative.
Interpol review and political character finding
Interpol itself, Mr Qasimi revealed, reviewed the matter, based on the submissions of both sides, and determined that it did not comply with the organisation’s Constitution and rules.
He cited Article 3 of Interpol’s Constitution, which strictly prohibits the organisation from engaging in activities of a political character or facilitating political persecution.
In the view of Mr Ofori-Atta’s lawyers, the case failed this test because it lacked a clear criminal basis and appeared driven by non-judicial considerations.
“This was not serving any legitimate international police cooperation purpose,” he said. “It crossed into territory that Interpol’s own rules forbid.”
Trial by media allegations
Beyond the legal technicalities, the defence levelled heavy criticism at what it described as a sustained media campaign by the OSP that violated both Ghanaian law and international norms.
Mr Qasimi accused the Special Prosecutor of resorting to public rhetoric, press briefings and social media pronouncements that effectively put Mr Ofori-Atta on trial in the court of public opinion.
Such conduct, he argued, has offended and undermined the fundamental principle of the presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law and breached basic ethical standards governing prosecutors.
The OSP has materially tainted the entire process, making it impossible to achieve a just and transparent outcome.
“You do not try people through press releases and tweets,” he said. “You do it in court, with evidence.”
Questions over charge sheet
He also questioned the legal sufficiency of the charge sheet reportedly prepared by the OSP, noting that it fails to specify what actions Mr Ofori-Atta allegedly took, how he personally benefited, or whether there was any intention to personally benefit or harm the State—key elements required to establish criminal liability under Ghanaian law.
He considers the charge sheet, which was announced a day after the suspension of the Interpol Red Notice, a hasty reaction to the suspension of the Red Notice as evidenced by the OSP’s attempts to downplay the suspension of the Red Notice in the media.
Procurement breaches, he added, do not automatically amount to criminal acts, and the OSP has not shown how administrative decisions were transformed into crimes.
Citizenship claims denied, fairness questioned
Mr Qasimi dismissed suggestions that Mr Ofori-Atta was seeking to evade justice by remaining abroad, calling claims that he had applied for US citizenship “simply not true.”
He stressed that Ghana remains his client’s home and that he wants to return under conditions that guarantee fairness and due process.
This, he said, raises a troubling question: given the OSP’s conduct so far, including multiple violations of Ghanaian and international law, can Mr Ofori-Atta reasonably expect justice if he returns?
“This is not prosecution,” Mr Qasimi concluded. “It is political persecution dressed up as law enforcement.”
