Former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu has expressed serious doubts about Ghana’s ability to obtain useful criminal evidence from any investigation into the bribery and money-laundering allegations surrounding the Asante Berko-AKSA deal.
In an article published on August 18, 2026, Amidu said he did not expect a Ghanaian investigation to produce evidence strong enough to support meaningful criminal proceedings, arguing that crucial evidence could ultimately be suppressed.
“I sincerely believe and conclude from the bottom of my heart that nothing useful by way of evidential results would come out of any Ghanaian investigation into the Asante-AKSA-Ghana corruption, corruption-related and other criminal offences such as money-laundering deals that were consummated between 2014 and 2017,” he wrote.
“The evidence will be suppressed,” he added.
His comments follow the conviction of former Goldman Sachs investment banker Asante Kwaku Berko by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on August 6, 2026, over his involvement in a bribery scheme linked to the development and financing of the AKSA power project in Ghana.
Amidu also cautioned against attempts to present the US conviction as proof of corruption spanning both the John Mahama and Nana Akufo-Addo administrations.
He argued that the conduct for which Berko was convicted centred on bribery involving public officials during the Mahama administration between 2014 and the early part of 2017.
According to Amidu, Berko resigned from Goldman Sachs in December 2016 to allow an internal investigation into his conduct.
“The Asante Berko-AKSA-Ghana bribery deal for which Asante Berko was convicted in the US on 6 August 2026 relates only to the bribery and corruption of public officials of the John Mahama government between 2014 and the early part of 2017,” he said.
He acknowledged, however, that transactions linked to AKSA continued beyond that period, noting that some payments were made in July 2018, according to investigations by the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
Amidu alleged that there was an attempt to create an “equalisation” narrative by linking Berko’s US conviction to both political administrations.
He said the AKSA-related transactions may have continued through Parliament and into the Akufo-Addo administration, and suggested that some aspects could still be ongoing.
He described AKSA as having “become an institution in Ghana” while warning against using the Berko conviction to establish wrongdoing outside the period covered by the US case.
“But any attempt to extend the conviction of Asante Berko as involving criminal activities beyond December 2016, when he resigned from Goldman Sachs for internal investigations into his misconduct, will be an attempt to establish equalisation as the government did in 2012 with the Justice Appau Commission of Enquiry,” he said.
Amidu’s comments come as Ghanaian authorities intensify investigations into the Ghanaian aspects of the AKSA controversy following Berko’s conviction in the United States.
