The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has amended the charge sheet against former Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid and nine others in the criminal trial the extortion of GH₵280.51 million from oil marketing companies (OMCs) between 2022 and December 2024.
In the new charge sheet filed at the Criminal Division of the High Court last Friday (October 17), the amount the OSP alleged was extorted has been increased from GH₵280.51 million to GH¢ 291,574,087.19 and $323,407.47 following new discoveries during investigations.
This development, has, therefore increased the counts of offences from 25 to 54 including conspiracy to extort money by public officer, extortion by public officer, using public office for profit, conspiracy to launder money and money laundering.
According to the OSP, Dr Abdul-Hamid and two other NPA officials — a Coordinator of the Unified Petroleum Pricing Fund (UPPF), Jacob Kwamina Amuah, and an NPA staff member, Wendy Newman, conspired to extort GH¢ 291,574,087.19 and $323,407.47 from the OMC.
If found guilty, each of the three accused persons could face between 12 and 15 years behind bars.
Alongside the three, four other executives of the three companies accused of helping to conceal the alleged stolen funds have also been charged.
They are a Director of Kel Logistics Limited, Albert Ankrah; Director, Kel Logistics Limited, Isaac Mensa; Director, Kel Logistics and Kings Energy Limited, Bright Bediako-Mensah; and Director, Kings Energy Limited, Kwaku Aboagye Acquaah.
They accused persons, who were admitted to bail by the court presided over by Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, were expected to take their pleas in respect of the new charges.
However, the case was adjourned to November 13 this year.
This is because Justice Yanzuh was recently promoted to the Court of Appeal.
As a result, the court registry is yet to assign a new judge to that court.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) alleged that between 2022 and December 2024, Dr Abdul-Hamid, Amuah and a staff member of the audit department of the NPA, Newman, set up a scheme to extort GH¢ 291,574,087.19 and $323,407.47 from bulk oil transporters and OMCs.
The scheme, according to the OSP, was contrived by Dr Abdul-Hamid, who allegedly sold the idea of the criminal adventure to Amuah, who also recruited Newman as the primary conduit for receiving the proceeds of the alleged crime.
The OSP alleged that Amuah directly handed GH¢ 24,000,000 to Dr Abdul-Hamid between January 2024 and December 2024, all alleged to be proceeds of what the OSP described as a criminal extortion scheme.
Within the same period, the OSP alleged that Dr Abdul-Hamid also directly received GH¢ 230,000 from one haulage company.
Out of the GH¢ 291,574,087.19 and $323,407.47 received by Dr Abdul-Hamid, Amuah and Newman, the OSP alleged that GH¢227.23 million and $ 17, 2017.47 were paid through Newman, who allegedly distributed it on the instruction of Amuah.
According to the OSP, investigations revealed that Ankrah, Mensah, Bediako-Mensah and Acquaah, as well as Adjei, with the complicity of Amuah and Newman, established and ran the three companies with which they proceeded to unlawfully launder the proceeds of the alleged criminal adventure of the top three accused persons through various transfers for the acquisition of movable and immovable property.
That was to conceal or disguise the illicit origin of the proceeds of the criminal enterprise and to evade the legal consequences of the unlawful activity, the charges averred.
“Amuah and Newman transferred various sums of money directly to the companies, and funded the purchase and construction of houses, the purchase of trucks for oil distribution business, and the construction of fuel filling stations,” the OSP stated in the charge sheet.
Currently, Dr Abdul-Hamid is on bail in the sum of GH¢2 million with two sureties.
Amuah and Newman are also on bail in the sum of GH¢2 million each, with two sureties each to be justified.
A Director of Kel Logistics Limited, Albert Ankrah; Director, Kel Logistics Limited, Isaac Mensa; Director, Kel Logistics and Kings Energy Limited, Bright Bediako-Mensah; and Director, Kings Energy Limited, Kwaku Aboagye Acquaah are also on bail in the sum of GH¢2 million with three sureties each, one of whom must provide justification with a landed property.
