By Sarah Baafi
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, has detailed an alleged fraud and money‑laundering scheme involving Percival Kofi Akpaloo, leader and presidential candidate of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG). Speaking at a Government Accountability Series briefing in Accra, he said the case followed a suspicious transaction report filed by the Financial Intelligence Centre regarding an account at First Bank Ghana in the name of Pomaah Universal (Gh.) Ltd.
Dr Ayine explained that subsequent investigations by the Economic and Organised Crime Office established that the genuine contractor was Pomaa Universal (Gh.) Ltd, a company wholly owned by businesswoman Akua Pomaa, which had legitimately been awarded a COCOBOD feeder road contract valued at more than GHS29.5 million in December 2020. While the initial payment for the project was correctly lodged in Pomaa Universal’s account, later transactions triggered red flags over alleged misrepresentation, forgery, and unauthorised handling of cheques.
According to the Attorney-General, Mr Akpaloo secretly incorporated a separate entity, Pomaah Universal (Gh.) Ltd, whose name closely resembled the original company but for the addition of an extra letter “h”. Between December 2022 and June 2024, he is alleged to have collected eight cheques issued by COCOBOD in the name of Pomaa Universal (Gh.) Ltd, totalling GHS3,169,432.22, and deposited them into the account of his similarly named company at First Bank Ghana.
Dr Ayine said Akua Pomaa was unaware of the existence of Pomaah Universal (Gh.) Ltd and the diversion of funds until COCOBOD contacted her in June 2024 about outstanding balances on the contract. She later discovered that Mr Akpaloo had collected and redirected payments without her consent, and further alleged that he forged her signature on the COCOBOD contract, using her former name, Mercy Owusu, to secure the agreement.
He added that internal checks by First Bank Ghana corroborated the fraud allegations, concluding that Mr Akpaloo had knowingly misrepresented ownership of the cheques and deposited them into the wrong account. The bank admitted operational failures in detecting discrepancies between the cheque payee names and the account numbers into which the funds were lodged.
The persons implicated in the investigations are Percival Kofi Akpaloo, Pomaah Universal (Gh.) Ltd, and Mr Akpaloo’s spouse, Delvine Akpaloo. Dr Ayine said the evidence points to offences including stealing, forgery, and money laundering, and announced that the suspects will be formally charged next January as part of the government’s drive to promote transparency and protect public and private funds.
