Transparency International Ghana Executive Director Mary Addah has welcomed the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s (OSP) decision to identify persons of interest in its investigation into the Ghanaian dimension of the bribery case involving former Tema Oil Refinery Managing Director Asante Kweku Berko. She said the move was an important step towards accountability because it provides clarity about the officials and individuals who were in positions of authority during the period under investigation.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story on Wednesday, August 26, Ms Addah emphasized that being named a person of interest should not be construed as evidence of criminal conduct or guilt. She said the designation simply identifies individuals whose roles or actions may be relevant to an ongoing investigation and whose conduct must be assessed through due process. “Being a person of interest doesn’t make you guilty. So naming you as a person of interest doesn’t count or take away from you,” she said.
Ms Addah also said the identification of the individuals also helps answer questions about who was responsible for overseeing matters connected to the controversial AKSA power project. “We’ve been asking ourselves, so who are these persons who are supposed to have presided over the issues and the concentration when it comes to the AKSA? Now, without a doubt, we know these were the people who were superintending,” she said. The OSP has named former Power Minister Kwabena Donkor and four other individuals as persons of interest in its investigation. These four individuals are Francis Walkson Kwesi Gyata, a former technical adviser to the Minister of Power; Solomon Adjetey Sowah, a former deputy director at the Ministry of Power; Lindin George Nii Mettle, a former director at Tricop Group Limited; and Baffour Ankomah Brobbey, an employee of Tricop Group Limited.
The investigation follows the conviction of Asante Kweku Berko by a federal jury in Brooklyn, New York, on August 3, 2026, over a bribery scheme involving more than US$1 million. Berko, a Ghanaian-American and former Managing Director of the Tema Oil Refinery, was convicted over allegations that he conspired to bribe multiple Ghanaian officials between 2014 and 2015. The alleged bribery scheme was connected to the development and financing of a 370-megawatt fuel oil power plant in Tema under an arrangement involving the Government of Ghana, Turkish energy company AXA Energy Eratim and Goldman Sachs.
The case has since triggered renewed scrutiny of the roles of Ghanaian officials and other individuals who were involved in or had oversight responsibilities concerning the project. The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, has said the OSP provided investigative and evidentiary assistance to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation through Ghana’s mutual legal assistance framework. According to him, the US Department of Justice subsequently acknowledged the OSP’s assistance in the successful prosecution of Berko.
Ms Addah, however, cautioned against reaching conclusions about the culpability of those named before the investigation is completed. She said the question of whether any of the persons of interest could eventually face greater responsibility must be determined by the evidence gathered by the investigative authorities. “As to whether it elevates them beyond that, it’s an issue that the investigative bodies bring attention to,” she said. The OSP’s identification of the persons of interest therefore marks a further stage in Ghana’s examination of the local aspects of the Berko case, while leaving questions of individual liability to the investigative and legal processes.
By: Joyce Owusu
