Ghana’s former special prosecutor, Martin Amidu, has grave doubts about Ghana’s ability to produce meaningful criminal evidence from any investigation into the Asante Berko-AKSA bribery scandal, arguing that the case risks ending without prosecutions.
In a strongly worded article on August 18, 2026, Amidu said “nothing useful by way of evidential results” from a Ghanaian investigation into the alleged corruption and money transactions connected to the AKSA deal.
He believes that evidence in the matter will be suppressed in Ghana.
“I sincerely believe and conclude from the bottom of my heart that nothing useful by way of
evidential results would come out of any Ghanaian investigation into the Asante-Aksa-Ghana
corruption, corruption related and other criminal offences such as money laundry deals that
were consummated between 2014 and 2017 leading to the conviction of the principal
facilitator of the corruption transactions, Asante Kwaku Berko, by the Unted States District
Court Eastern District of New York on 6 August 2026. The evidence will be suppressed”.
His comments follow the conviction of Asante Kwaku Berko by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on August 6, 2026.
To Martin Amidu, there should not be any attempt by the government towards equalization because the bribery took place in 2016.
He said “The Asante Berko-Aksa-Ghana bribery deal for which Asante Berko was convicted in the US on 6 August 2026 relates only to the bribery and corruption of public officials of the John
Mahama government between 2014 and the early part of 2017 after Berko had resigned from
Goldman Sachs in December 2016 to enable investigations into his conduct. It had nothing to
do with bribery and corruption during the Nana Akufo-Addo’s government. Of course, the
corruption transaction involving AKSA continued as some payments were made in July 2018
according to the investigation from the OSP.
There is, however, a concerted attempt by the government to present the conviction of Asante
Berko in the US for bribery as having been committed during the tenures of the Mahama
National Democratic Congress government (2013-2016) and the Akufo-Addo New Patriotic
Party government (2017 -2024). The AKSA bribery might have continued bi-partisanly in
Parliament and under the Nana Akufo-Addo government and continues to date as AKSA has
become an institution in Ghana.
But any attempt to extend the conviction of Asante Berko as involving criminal activities
beyond December 2016 when he resigned from Goldman Sachs for internal investigations for
his misconduct will be an attempt to establish equalization as the government did in 2012
with the Justice Appau Commission of Enquiry”.
