Victor Smith confirms Sedina Tamakloe’s arrest in US

Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States, Victor Emmanuel Smith, has confirmed the arrest and detention of former MASLOC Chief Executive Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu in Nevada.

In a statement issued to media houses, Ambassador Smith said, “I can today confirm that Mrs. Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu is being detained at the Nevada Southern Detention Center.”

He disclosed that she is being held at the facility located at 2190 East Mesquite Avenue in Pahrump, Nevada.

According to the ambassador, the former MASLOC boss was arrested by U.S. Marshals earlier this month following a formal extradition request from Ghana.

“My information is that she was detained by U.S. Marshals on January 6 and has since been kept at that detention center,” the statement said.

Ambassador Smith explained that the arrest was linked directly to actions taken by Ghanaian authorities in 2024.

“I am reliably informed that acting on an extradition request sent to the U.S. authorities sometime in July 2024, U.S. Marshals arrested Mrs. Tamakloe-Attionu and placed her in detention to await her day in court,” he added.

Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu, a former Chief Executive Officer of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), was convicted in April 2024 by an Accra High Court and sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labour.

She was tried in absentia after leaving Ghana on the basis of seeking medical attention abroad and failing to return.

The court found her guilty on 78 counts, including causing financial loss to the state, theft, conspiracy to steal, money laundering, and breaches of public procurement laws.

Her co-accused, former MASLOC Chief Operating Officer Daniel Axim, was sentenced to five years in prison with hard labour.

Following the conviction, the High Court issued an arrest warrant for Madam Tamakloe-Attionu after an ex-parte application by state prosecutors.

At the time, the Deputy Attorney General said the government was committed to securing her extradition to serve her sentence in Ghana.

The convictions stemmed from the misappropriation of MASLOC funds between 2013 and 2016, including funds meant for sensitisation exercises, disaster victims, and procurement of vehicles and mobile phones at inflated prices.

The confirmation by Ghana’s embassy in Washington marks a major step in efforts by the state to enforce the court’s judgment and bring the former MASLOC boss back to Ghana to face the full consequences of the law.