Parliament finds no evidence of $46,000 bribery in AKSA Energy deal

Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has announced that an internal review found no evidence of bribery involving Members of Parliament or parliamentary staff regarding the 2015 AKSA Energy emergency power agreement. Despite the internal clearance, the Speaker directed that the findings be forwarded to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) for a full criminal investigation. The move follows allegations that $46,000 was paid to individuals linked to the legislature to facilitate the approval of the deal.

The inquiry was triggered by legal developments in the United States involving Asante Kwaku Berko, a former Managing Director of the Tema Oil Refinery and former employee of Goldman Sachs. Berko was convicted in a U.S. court for facilitating bribes to Ghanaian officials to secure the AKSA project. The 2015 agreement, which was laid before Parliament on June 23 and approved on July 17 that year, has remained under public scrutiny following these international corruption proceedings.

While the internal review examined official records and interviewed relevant personnel—including Member of Parliament Kobina Tahir Hammond—Speaker Bagbin noted that the investigation had significant limitations. He explained that the parliamentary review was not a criminal inquiry and lacked the legal authority to compel evidence or access private bank records. Consequently, the findings do not definitively rule out the possibility of external financial transactions that did not appear in official parliamentary documentation.

Speaker Bagbin emphasized that the referral to the Office of the Special Prosecutor is necessary to ensure a conclusive result and to maintain the integrity of the institution. He stated that law enforcement agencies are better equipped to determine whether any illicit payments were made to public officials. The OSP is now expected to review the parliamentary report and determine if further legal action or prosecutions are warranted based on the evidence available from domestic and international sources.