The Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Intelligence Centre, Ing. Kwadwo Twum Boafo, is urging former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to return to the country and face the law.
Speaking in an interview on Accra-based GHOne, Twum Boafo stressed that the former minister has questions to answer regarding how he managed the economy during his tenure.
He noted that transparency is a crucial part of democratic governance and accountability should not be avoided, no matter how uncomfortable it may be.
“He has a lot of cases to answer on how he steered this economy. People will want to know and I would have wished that he came back willingly to answer the questions,” he stated, pointing out that previous officials had demonstrated responsibility by facing scrutiny.
“Those same questions were posed to Seth Tekper, and he didn’t run. Seth Tekper was here, he didn’t run.”
Twum Boafo also addressed the ongoing collaboration between the Office of the Special Prosecutor and US authorities regarding cases potentially linked to the former Finance Minister. He explained that such processes are complex and often lengthy due to the layers of legal scrutiny involved in cross-border investigations and extradition matters.
“The OSP is working with the Attorney General’s department to make sure they have a case that they can present to the US authorities.
“That is not easy because even though we have a mutual legal agreement with the US, the process drags.
“In the case of the money launderers that they took to the US, it took six years. They had to come and present a case to our judges here,” he explained, underscoring the judicial rigor involved.
He emphasised that Ghana’s legal system takes extradition requests seriously, ensuring that decisions are grounded in solid evidence rather than emotion or political pressure.
“Our judges, rightly so, will scrutinize extradition requests to the tee because no country is happy to extrude its citizens without putting a fine-tooth comb through the evidence.
“There are several layers through which that request goes, and at the end of the day, a judge must determine if that must happen.”
