Former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has had his passport confiscated following his release on bail by a U.S. immigration court, multiple sources familiar with the case have confirmed to JoyNews.
Ofori-Atta is scheduled to reappear before the court on April 27 for deportation proceedings. The case has been complicated by missing documentation and jurisdictional delays, prolonging the legal standoff.
His release was secured through a private bond company for a substantial sum, after his legal team successfully argued that, without a formal extradition request from Ghana on record, the court could not legally classify him as a flight risk.
During a previous hearing in March 2026, the presiding judge explicitly requested a copy of Ghana’s extradition request before ruling on bail.
The judge indicated that the document was essential to determining whether Ofori-Atta posed a flight risk, a key factor in bail decisions.
However, according to sources, the U.S. Attorney General has yet to provide a copy of Ghana’s extradition request to the State Attorney assigned to the case for submission to the court. The reasons for the delay remain unclear.
“In the absence of sighting a copy of the extradition request, he could not be deemed a flight risk,” one source familiar with the proceedings explained.
Ofori-Atta was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on January 6, 2026, and held at the Caroline Detention Facility in Virginia.
Meanwhile, back in Ghana, the Office of the Special Prosecutor continues to pursue its corruption case against the former finance minister, pending his return.
