Former Chief Executive Officer of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, has again to Ghana to commence serving a 10-year jail sentence imposed by way of the Accra High Court after her extradition from the United States.
She arrived at the Accra International Airport at about 7:18 a.m. on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, aboard United Airlines flight UA 996 from Washington Dulles International Airport in the United States.
The U.S Embassy in Ghana verified the extradition in a Facebook post.
Madam Attionu used to be acquired with the aid of safety personnel upon arrival and right now taken into custody. She is presently present process debriefing and scientific examinations as phase of widespread approaches earlier than being transferred to commence serving her sentence.
Her return follows a protracted extradition system initiated by way of the Government of Ghana after she failed to return to the united states of america following a scientific outing to the United States.
In 2021, Attionu was once granted permission by using the High Court to journey to the United States for scientific remedy whilst her trial was once ongoing. However, she failed to return to Ghana to proceed taking part in the proceedings, prompting the court docket to proceed the trial in her absence.
Her extradition was once established in a Facebook put up through the U.S. Embassy in Ghana, which stated “The United States has extradited Sedina Tamakloe Attionu to Ghana following her conviction of 70+ corruption-related charges, along with embezzling greater that $6M equal in Ghanaian taxpayer funds.”
In 2024, the Accra High Court sentenced Attionu in absentia to 10 years’ imprisonment after discovering her responsible of more than one offences, such as inflicting monetary loss to the country and stealing. The courtroom held that her movements all through her tenure as MASLOC Chief Executive between 2013 and 2016 resulted in a economic loss of almost GH¢90 million to the state.
The conviction accompanied a prolonged felony fighting involving allegations of misappropriation and diversion of nation assets in the course of her administration of the government-funded microfinance institution.
Following her conviction and sentencing, Ghanaian authorities intensified efforts to tightly closed her return, with the authorities formally inquiring for her extradition from the United States in 2025.
A United States District Court in Nevada because of this viewed the extradition request and, after reviewing the software and aiding felony documentation submitted via Ghanaian authorities, licensed the request, paving the way for her return to Ghana.
Her arrival marks a extensive milestone in one of Ghana’s most high-profile corruption-related prosecutions involving a former public official.
Authorities are anticipated to entire the fundamental administrative, security, and scientific approaches earlier than transferring her into the custody of the Ghana Prisons Service, the place she will commence serving the custodial sentence passed down by using the Accra High Court.
Officials have but to point out whether or not any extra criminal court cases will occur following her return. However, her extradition and switch to jail are predicted to deliver closure to a case that has remained in the public highlight for various years.
The case has been extensively mentioned by way of anti-corruption advocates as a principal take a look at of Ghana’s potential to pursue and impenetrable the return of convicted public officers who go away the united states whilst going through crook proceedings. Attionu’s extradition is consequently being seen as a landmark instance of worldwide cooperation between Ghanaian and US authorities in the enforcement of crook judgments
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