High court dismisses bid to strike out charges in npa–uppf corruption case

Written by; Regina Bless

The High Court has dismissed an application filed by the accused persons in the ongoing NPA–UPPF corruption case, seeking to have the charges against them struck out.

The decision allows the substantive trial in The Republic v. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid & 7 Ors to proceed.

The case involves former Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mustapha Abdul-Hamid; former Unified Petroleum Pricing Fund (UPPF) Coordinator, Jacob Kwamina Amuah; NPA staff member Wendy Newman; Bright Bediako-Mensah; Kwaku Aboagye Acquaah; and three companies — Propnest Limited, Kel Logistics Limited and Kings Energy Limited.

The accused persons had asked the court to strike out the charges, but the High Court dismissed the application, finding it without merit.

The Republic has brought 54 charges against the accused persons, including corruption and corruption-related offences, extortion, money laundering and conspiracy to commit a crime.

According to the prosecution’s case, between 2022 and December 2024, approximately GH¢291.57 million and US$332,407 were unlawfully obtained through a scheme allegedly involving officials of the NPA.

The prosecution further alleges that portions of the funds were subsequently channelled through companies linked to some of the accused persons and used in transactions involving land, buildings, trucks and fuel stations.

With the application to strike out the charges dismissed, the case will now proceed to the substantive trial, where the prosecution will be required to prove its allegations against the accused persons.

The accused persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty by the court.