The plea of former Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, and nine others has been rescheduled to December 9, 2025, following the reassignment of the case to a different court.
The 10 accused persons, including three companies, have been charged with 54 criminal counts by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
In a packed court session on Thursday, November 13, 2025, before a new judge, Justice Bertha Aniagyei, a Principal Prosecutor with the OSP, Adelaide Kobiri, said there had been a development that would require an adjournment.
She submitted that a new charge sheet was filed in the matter on October 17 to replace an earlier one already before the court, and their intention was to withdraw the old one for the new one submitted.
However, she said the case had been assigned to a different court, and the return date was December 9, 2025.
The defence lawyers agreed with the request.
Justice Bertha Aniagyei adjourned the case to December 9.
Mustapha Abdul-Hamid is accused of misusing his position and engaging in money laundering activities, totaling GH¢291,574,087.19 and US$332,407.47.
*Brief Facts*
Per the brief facts of the case, the First Accused person was the Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), following his appointment on July 1, 2021. The Second Accused person was the Coordinator of the Unified Petroleum Pricing Fund (UPPF) under NPA.
The investigations revealed that between 2022 and December 2024, the First, Second, and Third Accused persons, under the color of their office as officers of NPA, set up an extortionate scheme by which they unlawfully obtained an amount of GH¢291,574,087.19 and US$332,407.47 from bulk oil transporters and oil marketing companies, which they knew they were not lawfully authorized to obtain.
The scheme was contrived by the First Accused person, who sold the idea of the criminal adventure to the Second Accused person, who also recruited the Third Accused person as the primary conduit for receiving the proceeds of the crime.
A total amount of GH¢24,000,000.00 was handed directly by the Second Accused person to the First Accused person between January 2024 and December 2024, being proceeds of the criminal extortion scheme. Within the same period, the First Accused person also directly received the sum of GH¢230,000.00 from one oil haulage company.
The investigations further revealed that the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Accused persons, together with one Osei Tutu Adjei – Director of the Ninth Accused company (currently at large) – with the complicity of the Second and Third Accused persons, established and ran the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Accused companies, by which they proceeded to unlawfully launder the proceeds of the criminal adventure of the First, Second, and Third Accused persons through various transfers for the acquisition of movable and immovable property for the purpose of concealing or disguising the illicit origin of the proceeds of the criminal enterprise and to evade the legal consequences of the unlawful activity.
Source :www.kumasimail.com
