A former Managing Director of Tema Oil Refinery, Asante Kwaku Berko, on Monday, July 15, 2024, was extradited to the United States from the United Kingdom (UK) to be prosecuted for allegedly bribing Ghanaian government officials to secure a power plant deal and laundering the payments through the US financial system.
According to the US Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of New York, Kwaku Berko, who is a former Ghanaian-American banker, conspired with others to pay hundreds of thousands in bribes to officials, including Ghanaian government officials, between December 2014 and March 2017.
The Attorney’s Office indicated that the bribes were paid to secure a power deal for a Turkish energy company.
“As set forth in the indictment, between approximately December 2014 and March 2017, Berko conspired with others to bribe Ghanaian government officials in connection with the development and financing of a multi-million-dollar power plant in Ghana. Berko, an Executive Director in the Investment Banking Division of a subsidiary of a US bank, was responsible for securing and managing a deal between its client, a Turkish energy company, and the Republic of Ghana, for the construction and financing of a power plant in Ghana.
“During the scheme, Berko and his co-conspirators paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes—including to Ghanaian officials—to ensure the Turkish energy company won its bid to build and operate the power plant,” part of a statement issued by the office on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, reads.
It went on to give details of some of the bribes that were paid to the Ghanaian government officials as follows:
In April 2015, bribes were paid to five Ghanaian officials during an all-expenses-paid trip to Turkey to view equipment for the power plant, during which the officials each received $5,000.
After the power plant deal was ratified by the Ghanaian parliament in July 2015, Berko and his co-conspirators exchanged detailed emails regarding their bribe payments.
In August 2015, they discussed $250,000 in bribe payments paid to various individuals, including $20,000 to the “MoP Girls”—who were with the Ghanaian Ministry of Power and who a co-conspirator described as “vital to our communication and information acquisition.”
The emails further detailed tens of thousands of dollars in bribes that Berko had personally paid and for which he was still owed.
Payments in furtherance of the bribery scheme were laundered through US and foreign bank accounts, including several in Berko’s name.
