Former Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, and seven others have, for the third time, pleaded not guilty to charges in relation to over GHc291M and $332K extortion and money laundering charges.
The latest development followed a fresh Charge Sheet filed by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) after dropping charges against two directors of Kels Logistics.
In July 2025, Mustapha Hamid and the nine others first pleaded not guilty to 25 counts, but the charge sheet was amended to increase the counts to 54, to which all 10 pleaded not guilty on December 9, 2025.
However, after accepting offers from Albert Ankrah (4th Accused) and Isaac Mensah (5th Accused), both directors of Kels Logistics, the OSP filed a new Charge Sheet on March 18, 2026, dropping charges against the two, leaving the remaining eight to stand trial.
On Tuesday, March 24, the eight remaining accused persons, including Mustapha Hamid, had their pleas retaken for the third time after the two officials were discharged.
Bail
Joseph Kpenka, a former Deputy Attorney General who is representing the first accused person, Mustapha Hamid, made an application for bail pending the trial of this matter.
He submitted that the accused persons were first arraigned before the Court, differently constituted, on July 23, 2025, and were granted bail on July 31, 2025.
Again, he said on December 9, 2025, the prosecution replaced the old charge sheet, and the Court, differently constituted, granted bail to the accused and adopted previous bail conditions granted in July 2025.
Counsel said since then, the accused had dutifully attended Court and reported to the Office of the Special Prosecutor when required.
“We pray this Court that, in the interest of justice and fairness, the bail condition granted by this Court, differently constituted, on July 23, 2025, and repeated on December 9, 2025, be adopted,” Counsel prayed.
The Court, while granting bail, said the accused persons are admitted to bail in the sum of GHc2 million each, with two sureties to be justified.
One of the sureties, the Court said, is to be a public servant with a net salary of GHc5,000. Additionally, the Court said one of the sureties shall also deposit documents of landed property at the registry of this Court.
The other sureties, the Court said, are to deposit copies of a nationally recognised card at the registry.
The Court said the Accused persons are to report to the lead investigator at the Office of the Special Prosecutor once every fortnight.
They are also to deposit their passports at the Registry of the Court, and the “Accused persons shall be placed in the Stop List at all points of entry and exit in the country.”
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Brief facts
Per the brief facts of the case, the First Accused person was the Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), following his appointment on July 1, 2021.
The Second Accused person was the Coordinator of the Unified Petroleum Pricing Fund (UPPF) under NPA.
The investigations revealed that between 2022 and December 2024, the First, Second, and Third Accused persons, under the color of their office as officers of NPA, set up an extortionate scheme by which they unlawfully obtained an amount of GH¢291,574,087.19 and US$332,407.47 from bulk oil transporters and oil marketing companies, which they knew they were not lawfully authorized to obtain.
The scheme was contrived by the First Accused person, who sold the idea of the criminal adventure to the Second Accused person, who also recruited the Third Accused person as the primary conduit for receiving the proceeds of the crime.
A total amount of GHc424,000,000.00 was handed directly by the Second Accused person to the First Accused person between January 2024 and December 2024, being proceeds of the criminal extortion scheme.
Within the same period, the First Accused person also directly received the sum of GH¢230,000.00 from one oil haulage company.
The investigations further revealed that the Sixth, and Seventh Accused persons, together with one Osei Tutu Adjei – Director of the Ninth Accused company (currently at large) – with the complicity of the Second and Third Accused persons, established and ran the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Accused companies, by which they proceeded to unlawfully launder the proceeds of the criminal adventure of the First, Second, and Third Accused persons through various transfers for the acquisition of movable and immovable property for the purpose of concealing or disguising the illicit origin of the proceeds of the criminal enterprise and to evade the legal consequences of the unlawful activity.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
