, has been released on a US$20 million bail in Dubai.){kind=link}
Kevin Okyere, Chief Executive Officer of Springfield Exploration and Production Limited (SEP), has been released on a US$20 million bail in Dubai.
Reports, however, suggest, Kevin Okyere has been restricted from leaving the emirate.
This follows a US$94 million fraud case filed by Switzerland-based Petraco Oil Company SA against Okyere.
Mr Okyere’s bail in Dubai is the latest development in a protracted international legal dispute involving high-value petroleum transactions, cross-border arbitration, and allegations of large-scale fraud.
His arrest came despite previous petitions by Petraco Oil Company to Ghana’s Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) and the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
According to the information gathered, the Swiss company, frustrated by the lack of response in Ghana, pursued legal action in the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.
It has been claimed that the Office of the Attorney General stalled the case because it was seen as a civil issue that does not require state intervention.
Another claim highlighted that the Mahama government was working to help Springfield, “whose desperate unitization prospect with the Italian oil giant, ENI, didn’t see the light of day, either to sell the block, Afina, to the state or to have it appraised for takeover by another company.
The unitization between Springfield’s Afina discovery and ENI’s Sankofa field in Ghana was a years-long dispute that resulted in a government directive from the Akufo-Addo administration to combine the fields for more efficient development”.
Mr Okyere’s arrest was in connection with what is described as a “systematic and orchestrated economic crime” involving nearly US$93 million allegedly perpetrated by Springfield Exploration & Production Limited and GMP Energy Limited, both Ghanaian oil companies, along with their senior executives.
Meanwhile, Nana Kwame Bediako, also known as Cheddar, a Ghanaian businessman and real estate mogul, has called on authorities to bring back Kevin Okyere, following reports that the Springfield Group CEO has been detained in Dubai.
Reports claim Mr Okyere was arrested in the company of the two bodyguards and was detained upon landing in Dubai for a transit stop on an Emirates Airlines flight en route to Paris.
The real estate mogul, in a passionate statement, described Kevin Okyere as one of Ghana’s most intelligent and visionary young entrepreneurs.
Nana Kwame Bediako lamented Ghana’s recurring pattern of undermining its brightest minds, citing past examples of Kwame Nkrumah, local banks, Darko Poultry Farms and Apino soaps.
He further urged the government to rise above political influence to protect innovators who are building the nation’s future.
In a post on social media, Nana Kwame Bediako wrote, “Kevin Okyere is one of the most intelligent, visionary young Ghanaians of our time ,a man who secured an oil block before age 40, who could have brought billions of dollars into our economy. A deep thinker. A future builder. A rare national asset”.
He added, “Ghana has mastered one thing: destroying its brightest sons and daughters.
We look for the bad in our own people, even when they are the ones creating wealth around us. We are not building men. We are killing souls.
We betrayed Nkrumah.
We destroyed our banks.
We collapsed Darko Poultry Farms, which could have been feeding half of Africa today.
We crippled Apino soaps”.
Cheddar post added, “And today, we stand here again, watching another bright son of this nation being cast out.
A nation that attacks its visionaries has no future. Our future must not depend on politics. Our government must protect Ghanaian innovators and not politicians’ interests.
I hope the government rises above political influence and stands for what is right.
Protect your young builders. Protect your future”.
See the post below:
BREAKING:
— Ghana Chronicles (@_GhChronicles) November 17, 2025
Kevin Okyere granted US$20 million bail in Dubai
He is, however, reportedly restricted from leaving the country. pic.twitter.com/Y55pZwVa9f