Former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta will remain in the custody of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after a US immigration judge ordered the federal government to provide documentary proof of any extradition request from Ghana.
Mr Ofori-Atta was remanded following a closed-door immigration hearing on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, where his legal team sought bail. State attorneys opposed the application, arguing that he should not be released because Ghana had allegedly submitted an extradition request.
However, presiding judge David A. Gardey declined to rely on what he described as unsupported claims, stressing that no evidence had been placed before the court to substantiate the extradition assertion.
“The court cannot act on assertions without proof,” the judge ruled, directing the federal government to file any documentation relating to an extradition request on or before February 19, 2026.
The case has been adjourned to Thursday, April 27, at 1:00 p.m., when the court is expected to hear the bail application alongside any extradition-related documents. Until then, Mr Ofori-Atta will remain in ICE detention.
His detention was first made public on January 7, 2026, by his Ghanaian lawyers, Minkah-Premo, Osei-Bonsu, Bruce-Cathline & Partners (MPOBB), who disclosed that he had been taken into custody a day earlier over concerns about his immigration status.
“The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as of January 6, 2026, detained the former Minister for Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, regarding the status of his current stay in the United States,” the firm said in a statement signed by Justice Kusi-Minkah Premo, Esq.
According to the lawyers, Mr Ofori-Atta has a pending petition for adjustment of status, a legal process that allows an individual to remain in the United States beyond the expiration of a visa.
They stressed that the process is lawful and common under US immigration rules, describing the former minister as a “law-abiding person” who is fully cooperating with ICE.
Records from the US Department of Homeland Security show that Mr Ofori-Atta is currently being held at the Caroline Detention Facility in Bowling Green, Virginia.
The case has drawn significant public attention in Ghana, particularly in light of Mr Ofori-Atta’s recent legal and medical history. He has been in the United States since January 2025 for medical treatment after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.
He reportedly underwent a radical prostatectomy at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, on June 13, 2025, after tests showed progression of the disease. Family sources say he had been under medical observation for several weeks prior to the surgery.
Mr Ofori-Atta is also said to be managing post-COVID multi-system inflammatory response syndrome, a condition he was diagnosed with in February 2021.
He served as Ghana’s Minister for Finance from 2017 to 2023, overseeing the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, the domestic debt exchange programme, and negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.
In November 2025, the Office of the Special Prosecutor charged Mr Ofori-Atta and several others with corruption and corruption-related offences. That case is currently at the case management conference stage.
Story: Nyamebeye Kofi Ansah Sasraku