Dr Dominic Ayine, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, has detailed that Ghana cannot formally request the extradition of former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta from the United States without a solid docket.
The Attorney General highlighted that an extradition process, particularly with the U.S, requires comprehensive documentation, which includes the charges.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, October 22, Dr Dominic Ayine, “Yes, we are collaborating. Maybe the pace of collaboration is not something that I am happy about, and I don’t think that Ghanaians are also happy about the pace at which we are collaborating.
But yes, the office of the special prosecutor and my office are collaborating”.
He further explained that Ghana cannot formally request the extradition of former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta from the United States without a docket from the OSP.
Dr Dominic Ayine explained, “When doing extradition, you cannot request unless you have a solid case — a docket that has been built. And in the case of the Americans, the practice is for you to have filed charges”.
Without a docket, we cannot make the request. So we are still waiting for the docket. That is all I can say for now.
I respect the autonomy of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, but we in the Attorney General’s Department cannot begin an extradition request with a bare letter. We need the evidence to be able to do so,” he noted.
Meanwhile, the OSP has come clean on the extradition of former finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta from the United States following the Deputy Attorney General, Dr Justice Srem-Sai’s remarks.
According to the OSP, they informed the Attorney General that their office was in the process of compiling the various dockets on Ken Ofori-Atta.
In a statement issued on Monday, October 20, 2025, the OSP detailed, “The Office considers it necessary to provide factual clarity on this matter, reaffirm the procedural steps already undertaken, and address security concerns arising from a recent leak of highly sensitive communications that pose grave risks to ongoing investigations and the safety of OSP personnel.”
“Mr Ofori-Atta, who left the jurisdiction in January 2025, has by his actions shown clearly that he is unwilling to voluntarily return to the jurisdiction to attend the OSP,” the statement read.
The OSP statement further added, “The Office has since successfully defended several applications filed by Mr Ofori-Atta in Ghanaian courts, in attempts to have his name removed from the List of Wanted Persons”.
“The Chief of Staff duly transmitted the OSP’s extradition request to the Attorney General on June 3, 2025. The process goes through the Attorney General because his department is the Central Authority for such requests under the Mutual Legal Assistance arrangement. By a letter dated June 13, 2025, the Attorney General informed the Special Prosecutor of the transmission by the Chief of Staff of the OSP’s extradition request,” the OSP said.
It clarified, “In respect of the request for a copy of the docket, the Special Prosecutor informed the Attorney General that the OSP was in the process of compiling the various dockets on the subject”.
The OSP maintained that it has “lawfully commenced steps to secure his extradition to Ghana under international legal and diplomatic frameworks”.