Former Ghanaian Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has been detained by U.S. immigration authorities amid ongoing corruption allegations in his home country, according to a statement released by his lawyers.
Ofori-Atta, 66, has been in the United States since January last year for medical treatment, including surgery for prostate cancer. His legal team said he had applied to extend his stay in the country while undergoing treatment.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, his lawyers confirmed that officers of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took him into custody on Tuesday over “the status of his current stay in the United States.”
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The former minister was declared a fugitive by Ghanaian authorities in February last year and was formally charged with corruption in November. Despite this, his lawyers said Ofori-Atta is fully cooperating with US immigration officials and expressed confidence that the issue would be resolved swiftly.
ICE’s online detainee locator shows that Ofori-Atta is currently being held at a facility in the US state of Virginia.
Ofori-Atta served as Ghana’s finance minister from 2017 to 2024 under former President Nana Akufo-Addo, a tenure characterized by controversial tax reforms and high-profile negotiations with the International Monetary Fund aimed at stabilizing Ghana’s economy.
The detention added a new international dimension to the legal and political challenges facing the former finance minister as proceedings continue in Ghana.