Legal practitioner, Martin Luther Kpebu, has asked the State to go to court for proper interpretation of the sentence involving former Chief Executive of MASLOC, Sedina Christine Tamakloe-Attionu.
The former CEO of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), has been extradited from the United States to Ghana to serve a 10-year prison sentence after she was convicted in absentia in April 2024.
She was charged for causing nearly GH¢90 million in financial losses to the State, during her tenure from 2013 to 2016.
However, Madam Tamakloe-Attionu wasn’t in the country to serve her sentence, which, according to Ghana’s Criminal Offences Act, commences once the conviction is pronounced.
Speaking on TV3’s Ghana Tonight on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, Martin Kpebu said the country needs the Supreme Court to interpret the Act, to establish whether the two years the woman was away will count towards her sentence, or needs to start afresh since she has now returned into the country.
“We should get an interpretation from the court. That would put matters beyond doubt,” he stated.
Mr. Kpebu explained that “the law says a sentence commences from the day it is pronounced. So it means that the day the judge gave Sedina’s sentence, if we are going by the plain meaning of the law, it started. So the fact that the State didn’t have Sedina to start the sentence, for now, is neither here nor there. So the best thing will be for the State to now go to court for the court to make an interpretation of this.”
The former MASLOC CEO’s charges included 25 counts of stealing, 20 counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state, and four counts of money laundering.
Tamakloe-Attionu was arrested by US Marshals in Texas and held at the Nevada Southern Detention Center pending extradition proceedings.
Ghana’s government initiated extradition proceedings in 2025, and the US court ruled that the extradition treaty between Ghana and the US remains valid and enforceable.
A US District Court in Nevada certified Ghana’s extradition request in April 2026, finding sufficient legal grounds and probable cause linked to her conviction.
She arrived in Ghana on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, and is currently in police custody undergoing routine medical checks before serving her sentence.
The US Embassy in Ghana described the extradition as a “strong sign of cooperation between the two countries in tackling corruption and financial crimes.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, in a post on X on Tuesday, June 9, disclosed that the Attorney-General, Dr. Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, is going to have a high-level engagement with the US Depart of Justice to discuss other extradition requests between the two countries.
Ghana and US to meet over Ofori-Atta, other extradition requests – Kwakye Ofosu
