Details have emerged regarding how some One Hundred and Twenty-One Million Seven Hundred and Ninety Thousand Seven Hundred and Twenty-Five Ghana Cedis (GHS 121,790,725.00) handed to businessman Raymond Okai-Woode to supply gold was possibly used for other purposes.
Okai-Woode, owner of McWoode Ray 24 Enterprise and a Tier-2 licence holder under the Ghana Gold Board, is said to have approached fellow Tier-2 dealer William Akatsi, also known as Dela, owner of Yassbel Gold Enterprise, with a proposal that he had 100 kilograms of gold ready to supply.
Akatsi, who, like Okai-Woode, is advanced funds by the Ghana Gold Board through its aggregator, Bawa Rock, to purchase and supply gold, took the bait. Within the month of July 2026, he advanced the full GHS 121,790,725.00 to Okai-Woode, on the strength of a booking in which Okai-Woode allegedly misrepresented that he had the 100kg in hand and could deliver it within twenty-four hours.
The gold never came — at least, not most of it. On 8th July 2026, Okai-Woode supplied just 3.86504 kilograms, valued at GHS 5,551,817.00, a fraction of what had been paid for. The remainder of the gold was never delivered, and Okai-Woode is said to have gone into hiding, with Akatsi’s efforts to reach him proving futile.
When he was eventually tracked down and arrested, Okai-Woode reportedly admitted during interrogation that he had used the money advanced by Akatsi to settle his own debts. He is said to have claimed that Dominic Bonsu Ventures, a sub-aggregator, owed him money, and that he had been waiting on that payment to be able to pay off Akatsi.
Investigations by the Ghana Gold Board established that Okai-Woode breached the terms and conditions of his licence, which criminalises fraudulent or illegal conduct, and that he had also supplied false information in the course of the transaction.
He has since been arraigned before the High Court, Criminal Division, Accra, on two counts: failing to comply with the terms and conditions of his Gold Board licence, contrary to Section 63(1)(c)&(2) of the Gold Board Act, 2025 (Act 1140), and providing false information, contrary to Section 63(1)(b)&(2) of the same Act.
The case is the latest to surface involving Tier-2 gold dealers operating under the Board’s aggregator system, raising fresh questions about how funds advanced for gold supply within the sector are being tracked and safeguarded.
By Joseph Ackah-Blay
