Former TOR MD Charged with Bribery and Money Laundering in US
Former Managing Director of the Tema Oil Refinery, Asante Kwaku Berko has been arrested on charges of bribery and money laundering in the United States of America (USA).
He was arraigned in court on July 16, 2024, after he was extradited from the United Kingdom to the US on July 15 through a joint operation by the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the Government of the U.K. National Central Bureau of INTERPOL, and U.S. Marshals Service.
The dual citizen of the US and Ghana was arraigned before the Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom on Tuesday following this.
According to the indictment, he was charged with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and money laundering for allegedly bribing Ghanaian government officials to secure a power plant deal and laundering the payments through the U.S. financial system.
If found guilty, he risks serving a maximum of 20 years in jail.
Details
In a statement issued between approximately December 2014 and March 2017, Berko conspired with others to bribe Ghanaian government officials in connection with the development and financing of a multi-million-dollar power plant in Ghana.
The Executive Director in the Investment Banking Division of a subsidiary of a U.S. bank was responsible for securing and managing a deal between its client, a Turkish energy company, and the Republic of Ghana, for the construction and financing of a power plant in Ghana.
He is suspected to have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to ensure the Turkish energy company won its bid to build and operate the power plant.
“For example, in April 2015, bribes were paid to five Ghanaian officials during an all-expenses-paid trip to Turkey to view equipment for the power plant, during which the officials each received $5,000. After the power plant deal was ratified by the Ghanaian parliament in July 2015, Berko and his co-conspirators exchanged detailed emails regarding their bribe payments.
“In August 2015, they discussed $250,000 in bribe payments paid to various individuals, including $20,000 to the ‘MoP Girls’—who were with the Ghanaian Ministry of Power and who a co-conspirator described as ‘vital to our communication and information acquisition’.
“The emails further detailed tens of thousands of dollars in bribes that Berko had personally paid and for which he was still owed. Payments in furtherance of the bribery scheme were laundered through U.S. and foreign bank accounts, including several in Berko’s name.”
