Accra: Former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Inusah Abdulai Bistav Fuseini, has argued that a United States immigration judge has no jurisdiction to make pronouncements on the criminal case involving former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta in Ghana. Speaking on NewsFile on JoyNews, monitored by GhanaWeb on July 25, 2026, he maintained that the US judge was sitting as an immigration judge and not as a judge hearing a criminal case against the former finance minister.
According to Ghana Web, Fuseini emphasized that the proceedings before the US court were solely intended to determine Ofori-Atta's immigration status after he sought to regularise his stay in the United States. He explained that the judge did not have access to the criminal case details and was only reviewing affidavit evidence submitted for the immigration application.
"The judge did not have the benefit of the criminal case before him. He was sitting as an immigration judge... For a judge to look at affidavit evidence submitted in support of an immigration application and make a conclusive pronouncement on a criminal matter pending before the Ghanaian courts is totally out of jurisdiction," Fuseini remarked. He further stressed that criminal jurisdiction is territorial and argued that the US court could not assess the merits of a criminal prosecution taking place in Ghana.
Fuseini also called on Ghanaians not to attach excessive significance to the immigration judge's remarks, highlighting that the ruling was made within the context of an immigration proceeding rather than a criminal trial. His comments follow the release of a June 15, 2026 ruling by US Immigration Judge David Gardey, who questioned the strength of the corruption case brought against Ofori-Atta by Ghana's Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
In his ruling approving Ofori-Atta's permanent residency application, Judge Gardey stated that the OSP's affidavit was "full of conclusory allegations" and failed to provide "credible or reliable facts" demonstrating criminal conduct.