The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, has declared some Ghanaians as persons of interest in the AKSA deal.
He said these persons are being investigated.
Mr Agyebeng, speaking at a press conference in Accra on August 26, said the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has been “carefully investigating the Ghana dimension, and our public silence has not meant inaction. Our involvement with the case, and the evidence so far, enable us to identify the following as the main persons of interest:
Kwabena Donkor, at all times the Minister of Power
Francis Walkson Kwesi Dzata, at all times the Technical Advisor to the Minister of Power
Solomon Adjetey Sowah, at all times a Deputy Director at the Ministry of Power
Lyndon George Nii Saul Mettle, at all times a Director at Tricorp Group Limited
Baffour Ankoma Brobbey, at all times an employee at Tricorp Group Limited.”
He added that “Other persons of interest include some present and former employees of Volta River Authority, Ghana Grid Company Limited, Electricity Company of Ghana, Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission, and some staff of the entity formerly known as Ministry of Power.”
Mr Agyebeng explained that, “a person of interest is not necessarily a suspect. The two categories are distinct investigative classifications and should not be treated as interchangeable. Then again, identification in either category does not constitute criminal culpability or conviction until guilt is proved beyond reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of a court of competent jurisdiction.”
The Special prosecutor stressed that his outfit provided investigation and evidentiary assistance to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States through Ghana’s established mutual legal assistance framework.
“The involvement of the OSP has been acknowledged by the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) as providing “significant assistance” to the prosecution. The conviction underscores the importance of international cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of complex corrupt acts spanning multiple jurisdictions,” he noted.
Mr Agyebeng further noted, “the OSP’s work on the matter did not end with the assistance provided to the authorities in the United States. We have been actively and carefully investigating the Ghanaian dimension. I say carefully, because it must always be borne in mind that a conviction of a person in a foreign jurisdiction does not, without more, establish criminal liability under Ghanaian law or justify the immediate prosecution of other persons in Ghana connected with the underlying conduct.”
“Each person’s acts must be assessed under Ghanaian law, using lawfully obtained evidence capable of supporting a prosecution here. The nature of the evidence and the applicable law determine whether prosecution should be commenced in Ghana or otherwise,” he emphasised.
On 6 August 2026, a federal jury in Brooklyn, New York, convicted Asante Kwaku Berko (a dual citizen of Ghana and the United States and former Managing Director of Tema Oil Refinery and former Executive Director in the Investment Banking Division of the U.S. based Goldman Sachs group) of conspiring to pay and paying more than $1m in bribes between 2014 – 2015 to multiple Ghanaian officials in connection with the development and financing of a 370 megawatt fuel oil plant in Tema, Ghana under a deal between the Republic of Ghana and Aksa Enerji Uretim A.S., a Turkish energy company and Goldman Sachs client.
