Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, a former chief executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), and nine other people have entered not guilty pleas to 54 charges.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has charged 54 criminal counts against the ten accused individuals, including three businesses.
On Monday, December 9, 2025, they all entered not guilty pleas to their individual accusations in front of Judge Audrey Kocuvie-Tay.
Money laundering operations worth GH¢291,574,087.19 and US$332,407.47 are allegedly committed by Mustapha Abdul-Hamid and the other defendants.
The new charge sheet contains 54 criminal counts alleging widespread extortion, misuse of public office, and money laundering against NPA officials and many related businesses.
According to the OSP, between December 2022 and December 2024, Dr. Abdul-Hamid, NPA Audit Department employee Wendy Newman, and Jacob Kwamina Amuah, Coordinator of the Unified Petroleum Pricing Fund, allegedly used their positions to extort money from bulk oil transporters and oil marketing companies without any legal authority.
According to the summary facts, OSP’s investigations have shown that three businesses—Propnest Limited, Kel Logistics Limited, and Kings Energy Limited—that are purportedly owned or run by some of the accused individuals were utilized to launder the illegal proceeds.
In an effort to hide the earnings, the money was allegedly used to build fuel stations, buy and build homes, and buy trucks for oil distribution.
According to the case’s summary facts, the First Accused was appointed as the National Petroleum Authority’s (NPA) Chief Executive on July 1, 2021. The Unified Petroleum Pricing Fund (UPPF) Coordinator under NPA was the second accused.
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 illegally 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 legally authorized to obtain.
The plot was devised by the First Accused, who sold the concept of the criminal adventure to the Second Accused, who also recruited the Third Accused as the major channel for obtaining the proceeds of the crime.
Between January 2024 and December 2024, the Second Accused directly gave the First Accused GH¢24,000,000.00, which was the proceeds of the criminal extortion scheme.
During the same time frame, one oil transport business directly gave GH¢230,000.00 to the First Accused.
The investigations also showed that, with the help of the Second and Third Accused, the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Accused, along with one Osei Tutu Adjei, Director of the Ninth Accused company (currently at large), created and operated the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Accused companies.
Through these companies, they unlawfully laundered the proceeds of the criminal venture of the First, Second, and Third Accused individuals through various transfers for the purchase of both movable and immovable property in order to hide or disguise the illegal activity.
Source: newsthemegh.com