U.S. Extradites Former Ghana Microfinance Chief Over $6m Corruption Case

The United States has extradited former chief executive of Ghana’s Microfinance and Small Loans Centre, Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, to Ghana to begin serving a ten-year prison sentence, in the first such transfer between the two countries in 16 years.

Tamakloe Attionu, who served as chief executive of MASLOC from 2013 to 2016, left Ghana in 2019 after obtaining permission from the court to travel abroad for medical treatment but did not return for the continuation of her trial.

In April 2024, she was convicted and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment with hard labour on multiple charges, including causing financial loss to the state, stealing, conspiracy, money laundering and procurement-related offences.

The charges spanned 72 counts in total, including 25 counts of stealing, nine counts of conspiracy to steal, 20 counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state, 11 counts of conspiracy to commit the same offence, three counts of causing loss to public property and four counts of money laundering.

She was arrested by United States Marshals on 6 January 2026 and held at the Nevada Southern Detention Centre in Pahrump, Nevada.

A United States District Court in Nevada subsequently certified her extradition following a hearing at which the court considered affidavits from Ghanaian state prosecutors and investigators, as well as a declaration from a United States State Department legal adviser.

The United States Mission in Ghana confirmed the extradition on Tuesday, describing it as a demonstration of “a strong U.S.-Ghana law enforcement partnership” and “a shared commitment to accountability.”

Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed her arrival and said the extradition underscored a joint commitment to ensuring no one was beyond the reach of justice.

The extradition is the first from the United States to Ghana since 2009, ending a 16-year gap in such transfers between the two countries.