Kofi Bentil, the Vice President of IMANI Africa, has said charges filed against former finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta are not serious.
According to Kofi Bentil, any prosecutor who slams 78 charges on an accused person is not serious.
Kofi Bentil noted that a government appointee making bad decisions in government is not a crime.
However, the bad decision becomes a crime if it can be proven that the decision was made to profit oneself corruptly and also cause financial loss.
Speaking on the Key Points current affairs programme on TV 3 on Saturday, 17 January 2026, Kofi Bentil stated, “I have said publicly that any prosecutor who charges in a high-profile case like this with over seventy-eight charges is not serious.”
“I don’t think the charges are serious. Making bad decisions in government is not a crime unless we can prove that you made decisions to profit yourself corruptly, caused financial loss to the state, or you had intentions,” Kofi Bentil stated.
Kofi Bentil further added that Ken Ofori-Atta would like to return to Ghana but fears how he will be treated.
He added, “I know that Ken will love to come back, but he is apprehensive of how he will be treated because of the kinds of things that have been said and done in the past one year”.
“It is not about the charges he is afraid of, he is afraid of the treatment he will get…nobody is above the law, so Ken Ofori-Atta is not above the law. If, for some reason, he has to come and face whatever, Ambassador Smith says he thinks he will come and face it, but he is afraid of how he will be treated.
“I am saying that based on everything, his apprehension is that even though he is a sick man who has gone through all these surgeries and he is recuperating and whatever it is, he does not think that he will be treated well, like what Ambassador Smith is saying,” he stated.
He added, “My point is that if there is a way to try this man, go ahead and do it. We who are close to him think that what Ambassador Smith said is the truth. Ken would like to come, he is not above the law, not so we are not asking for special treatment, but what will it take for us to facilitate his coming so he will subject himself to these things”.
Also, Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has said the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) is gambling with charges levelled against Ken Ofori-Atta and seven others in the SML case.
Lawyer Kpebu raised concerns over the charges filed by the OSP, describing the charges as questionable.
According to Lawyer Kpebu, he does not trust the Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng after he allowed Ofori-Atta to escape the country.
Speaking on Eyewitness News with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Tuesday, November 18, Kpebu stated, “Kissi Agyebeng allowed Ofori-Atta to escape, so I cannot trust him. If you look at some of the charges he has filed, he’s deliberately gambling with financial loss. Financial loss is not part of the OSP’s mandate.
“Now you’re going to use this case to gamble. If you get to the court and it says no, as for financial loss, it’s too huge. What are you going to do? Is it part of the ploy to gamble?”
He added, “I don’t trust the charges at all. I cannot trust Kissi Agyebeng; he once worked for Ofori-Atta. Ofori-Atta is his formal client. Kissi worked for Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko. Same circle. Ask if Kissi Agyebeng ever attended a meeting with Ofori-Atta, and that man is going to prosecute Ofori-Atta, aaahbaai, what a joke.”