In a major legal blow to former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, the Human Rights Court has dismissed his bid to block the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) from branding him a “wanted person,” affirming the agency’s power to act in its ongoing corruption investigations.
The court not only threw out Ofori-Atta’s application but also imposed a cost of GH¢5,000 against him. The ruling clears the way for the OSP to proceed with its probe and public declarations relating to the former minister, who failed to appear before the office on June 2, 2025.
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Ofori-Atta’s legal team had filed the suit in March 2025, claiming that the OSP’s reference to him as a fugitive of justice—alongside the continued display of his image on wanted lists—violated his constitutional rights, including administrative justice and personal liberty.
“This is a matter of fundamental rights. Our client cannot be publicly branded a fugitive without judicial due process,” his lawyers argued.
But the court disagreed.
In a decisive ruling, the judge found that the OSP’s actions were justified and lawful within the agency’s mandate, especially given the nature and stage of the ongoing investigations.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor, in a statement on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), welcomed the ruling, saying:
“The Human Rights Court has dismissed an application by former Finance Minister Kenneth Ofori-Atta, who sought to prevent the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) from declaring him wanted ahead of his scheduled appearance on 2 June 2025.”
“The dismissed application forms part of a series of civil suits he has filed against the OSP and the Republic, either to halt its operations or challenge the issuance of arrest warrants in the ongoing probes,” the OSP added.
Ofori-Atta had also requested a mandatory court order compelling the OSP to delete all references to him as a wanted person, along with an interlocutory injunction to halt further public statements from the OSP on the matter.
This latest legal defeat adds to Ofori-Atta’s growing legal troubles, as the OSP intensifies its crackdown on public corruption under the current administration.