Ghana's former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has been taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Washington, DC, as Ghana's formal extradition request to face 78 corruption-related charges moves through the American legal system, according to a report by Guardian Nigeria. ICE agents arrested the 66-year-old at a Washington apartment complex; he is being held at the Caroline Detention Facility in Virginia pending review of his immigration status.
Ofori-Atta served as Ghana's finance minister from 2017 to 2024 under former President Nana Akufo-Addo, a tenure that included contentious tax reforms and a round of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund over the country's debt crisis. He had been in the United States since the previous year receiving medical treatment, including prostate cancer surgery, before his arrest. Ghana's Attorney-General had already submitted a formal extradition request to US authorities covering Ofori-Atta and a co-defendant over the 78 charges, and Interpol had separately issued a red notice for him.
The case has become one of the most closely watched anti-corruption proceedings tied to Ghana's previous government, testing both the extradition process between the two countries and Ghana's ability to hold a former senior official accountable once he was outside its jurisdiction.