Former Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has dismissed claims that the Akufo-Addo administration or his tenure as Attorney-General was responsible for the acquittal and discharge of former Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) Chief Executive, Sedina Tamakloe Attionu.
In a statement issued on Friday, July 31, 2026, Mr Dame described allegations by communicators of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) as “false and misleading,” insisting that the official court record vindicates his handling of the case.
According to him, no notice of appeal filed by Madam Attionu in 2024 ever came to the attention of the Attorney-General’s Department during his tenure.
He said state attorneys informed the Court of Appeal in both oral and written submissions in April 2026 that they had never been served with a notice of appeal and only became aware of the proceedings after the court directed both parties to file their written submissions.
Mr Dame argued that even if an appeal had been filed in 2024, it was inconsequential because no further action was taken by the appellant until after the NDC assumed office.
“In any event, even if an appeal was filed by Sedina Attionu in 2024, it is completely immaterial because no further step was taken by her as the accused/appellant until the NDC came back to power,” he stated.
The former Attorney-General maintained that his primary responsibility after securing a conviction was to pursue Madam Attionu’s extradition to Ghana to serve her sentence.
He noted that his office initiated extradition proceedings in the United States, culminating in an order by the United States District Court of Nevada on April 9, 2026, confirming her extradition and committing her to custody pending a decision by the U.S. Secretary of State.
Mr Dame further pointed out that throughout the extradition proceedings, which ran from July 2024 to April 2026, there was no mention of any pending appeal against Madam Attionu’s conviction, including in documents filed by her legal team before the U.S. court.
He explained that Madam Attionu’s lawyers only obtained leave to file written submissions in the Court of Appeal on February 10, 2026, and filed those submissions two days later, by which time he was no longer serving as Attorney-General.
According to him, state attorneys were surprised when they were served with the appellant’s submissions because they had received no prior notification of the appeal. They subsequently sought leave to file their own written submissions in opposition, which they did on April 9, 2026.
Mr Dame said the state attorneys also raised concerns over an incomplete record of appeal and the omission of prosecution exhibits, prompting the Court of Appeal, then presided over by Justice Mensah Datsa, to direct that additional volumes of the record be made available to the Republic.
He noted that after reviewing the documents, the Republic successfully applied to have three additional documents included in the record of appeal on May 28, 2026, after which the case was adjourned to June 17.
He added that a differently constituted panel of the Court of Appeal, presided over by Justice Ankamah, later heard the matter on June 17 and adjourned it for judgment.
Mr Dame described the acquittal and discharge of Madam Attionu as one that had generated justified public concern, arguing that the evidence presented during the trial had been compelling and widely reported.
He accused the current Attorney-General of pursuing a pattern of discontinuing criminal cases involving leading members and affiliates of the NDC while aggressively prosecuting political opponents under what he described as the government’s “Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL)” initiative.
“The development is consistent with the predilection of the Attorney-General to discontinue all cases which were being prosecuted against leading members and affiliates of the NDC,” he alleged.
Mr Dame further argued that the decision to acquit Madam Attionu reinforced growing public perceptions that Ghana’s justice system now operates with “two sets of law for two sets of people.”
He called on Ghanaians to demand greater accountability from the government, insisting that the Attorney-General must be held to the highest standards in the conduct of criminal prosecutions.
According to him, a justice system that treats political allies differently from opponents undermines public confidence in the rule of law and reflects poorly on the state.
Read the statement below:
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