Former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has won a major legal battle in the United States after an immigration judge ruled that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) failed to present credible evidence linking him to criminal wrongdoing, paving the way for him to obtain lawful permanent residency.
Delivering judgment at the Annandale Immigration Court in Virginia, Judge David Gardey ruled that the evidence presented against Mr. Ofori-Atta failed to establish that he had engaged in criminal conduct while serving as Ghana’s Finance Minister.
“I know that you’ve been through a difficult period of time, that you were detained based on these criminal charges. Your health suffered as a result. You have had your day in court, and you have established that you are entitled to adjustment of status,” Judge Gardey told Mr. Ofori-Atta while granting his application for permanent residency.
According to court findings reported after the ruling, Judge Gardey held that there was no evidence that Mr. Ofori-Atta personally profited from any of the decisions or actions taken during his tenure as Finance Minister.
The judge was also reported to have described the affidavit relied upon by the OSP in the immigration proceedings as being “full of conclusory allegations” and lacking “credible or reliable facts” demonstrating criminal wrongdoing.
“Respondent has not been credibly charged or credibly been shown to engage in any wrongdoing in Ghana,” Judge Gardey said in his ruling, according to reports from the proceedings.
The decision followed months of legal proceedings after Mr. Ofori-Atta was detained by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this year while seeking to regularise his immigration status in the United States. He was later released on bond pending the determination of his application.
The ruling comes against the backdrop of ongoing investigations by Ghana’s Office of the Special Prosecutor into Mr. Ofori-Atta over several high-profile transactions undertaken during his time in office, including matters relating to the Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) contract, the National Cathedral project, ambulance procurement, the termination of an ECG contract with Beijing Technology Limited, and payments from the Ghana Revenue Authority’s tax refund account.
The OSP had previously declared the former Finance Minister wanted after he failed to honour invitations to appear before the Office and subsequently initiated efforts to secure his return to Ghana through extradition proceedings.
However, the U.S. immigration court’s ruling was confined to the evidence presented in the residency proceedings and does not amount to a determination of Mr. Ofori-Atta’s criminal liability under Ghanaian law.
The OSP’s investigations and extradition efforts remain separate legal processes to be determined under Ghanaian law and the applicable extradition procedures.
The decision nevertheless represents a significant legal setback for the OSP’s position in the U.S. immigration proceedings, with the court concluding that the material before it failed to credibly establish criminal misconduct by the former Finance Minister while simultaneously granting him lawful permanent resident status.
