The High Court has dismissed an application by former National Petroleum Authority (NPA) Chief Executive Officer, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, and seven others seeking to have corruption charges against them struck out.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), in a post on its X handle, said the court had dismissed the application as without merit, allowing the substantive trial in the NPA–UPPF corruption case to continue.
The accused persons are Mustapha Abdul-Hamid; former Unified Petroleum Pricing Fund (UPPF) Coordinator, Jacob Kwamina Amuah; NPA staff member Wendy Newman; Bright Bediako-Mensah; Kwaku Aboagye Acquaah; and three companies — Propnest Limited, Kel Logistics Limited and Kings Energy Limited.
The accused had asked the court to strike out the charges against them, but the High Court rejected the application.
The Republic has brought 54 charges against the accused persons, including corruption and corruption-related offences, extortion, money laundering and conspiracy to commit a crime.
According to the OSP, the Republic’s case is that between 2022 and December 2024, approximately GH¢291.57 million and US$332,407 were unlawfully obtained through a scheme involving officials of the NPA.
The prosecution further alleges that portions of the funds were subsequently channelled through companies linked to some of the accused persons and used in transactions involving, among other things, land, buildings, trucks and fuel stations.
With the application to strike out the charges dismissed, the substantive trial will continue before the High Court.The accused persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
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