United States: former Ghanaian Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta arrested by immigration services.
The former Ghanaian Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, aged 66, was detained by the U.S. immigration authorities on January 7, 2026, while he was on U.S. soil, his lawyers and several international media outlets confirmed.
Ken Ofori-Atta, who led Ghana’s Ministry of Finance from 2017 to 2024 under President Nana Akufo-Addo, had been in the United States since January 2025 for medical treatment, including surgery related to prostate cancer.
According to his lawyers, the arrest isn’t directly related to the charges he faces in his home country, but to the conditions of his stay on American soil.
He had been declared a fugitive by the authorities of his country in February 2025 and officially charged in November last in connection with these investigations.
The former minister’s lawyers say that he is cooperating with the U.S. authorities and they expect a swift resolution of the situation related to his immigration status. The man remains for now detained in an ICE detention center located in the state of Virginia, on the East Coast of the United States.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. agency responsible for immigration and customs, is said to have arrested the former minister due to his immigration status. An application for adjustment of status, which would have allowed him to legally extend his stay beyond the validity of his visa, was underway at the time of the arrest.
The arrest comes as Ken Ofori-Atta is also being sought by Ghana’s judiciary amid allegations of corruption and accusations that he caused significant financial losses to the state through transactions deemed suspect.
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