US law enforcement agencies tight-lipped on offences behind Asante Akim North MP’s detention

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has formally declined to comment on the detention of the Member of Parliament for Asante Akim North, Kwame Ohene Frimpong, at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, even as Ghana’s Majority Caucus rolls out an intensifying legal and diplomatic operation aimed at preventing his extradition to the United States.

In an email response received by JoyNews Research in the early hours of Friday, 15 May 2026, the Senior Communications Advisor for International Law Enforcement and Spokesperson for the US Department of Justice, Ms Nicole Navas Oxman, said simply: “The U.S. Department of Justice declines to comment.”

Her terse reply followed a detailed request for information submitted by JoyNews Research to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Press Office on Wednesday, in which the team asked six specific questions, including whether there is an unsealed indictment, criminal complaint or arrest warrant in the United States in the name of Kwame Ohene Frimpong; which US Attorney’s Office or judicial district is handling the matter; whether the Schiphol arrest was effected on the basis of a US provisional arrest request or an Interpol Red Notice originating from the United States; whether the FBI or the DOJ will be seeking Mr Frimpong’s extradition; and whether the investigation is connected to a business previously operated in Chicago, as has been widely reported in Ghana.

In its response, dated Thursday, 14 May at 8:05 pm Ghana time, the FBI’s National Press Office did not address any of the six questions on the merits. It instead deferred to the DOJ.

“Thank you for reaching out. We refer you to the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs. I have CC’ed their spokesperson,” the FBI National Press Office wrote. The DOJ’s “no comment” arrived six hours later.

The twin responses leave unanswered, on the record, the most consequential questions hanging over the case: whether a formal US extradition request has been filed with The Hague, the precise charges contemplated, and the judicial district from which the underlying warrant originated.

Majority Caucus deploys legal, diplomatic resources

Even as Washington maintains its silence, Ghana’s Majority Caucus has been anything but quiet. In a series of public interventions over the past 48 hours, parliamentary leadership has signalled that it intends to throw the full weight of Ghana’s diplomatic and legal machinery behind the embattled legislator.

The Majority Chief Whip and MP for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has emerged as the public face of the Caucus’s response. Speaking on Joy FM’s Midday News on Wednesday, Mr Dafeamekpor confirmed that the detained MP telephoned him at about 5:00 am on Sunday, 10 May, shortly after being detained at Schiphol while in transit on a KLM flight from Accra to the United Kingdom.

He immediately escalated the matter to the Majority Leader, Mr Mahama Ayariga, who was in transit at London’s Heathrow Airport at the time. Rather than continue to his original destination, Mr Ayariga rerouted to Amsterdam, where he spent between two and three hours in discussions with Dutch officials and engaged the detained MP directly.

“We have committed to this matter very well. We have a lawyer for him now… and he’s dealing with the issues,” Mr Dafeamekpor told the media. The Caucus, he disclosed, has engaged a Ghanaian lawyer qualified to practise in The Hague to represent Mr Frimpong before Dutch prosecutors.

Diplomatic passport opens a second front

A potentially decisive element of the Caucus’s defence strategy has emerged from the disclosure that Mr Frimpong was travelling on a diplomatic passport at the time of his arrest.

Mr Dafeamekpor confirmed that the Attorney-General is now examining the legal and diplomatic implications of Frimpong’s status as a sitting Member of Parliament travelling on a diplomatic instrument. That examination is expected to feed directly into Ghana’s posture on any extradition request the United States may file with the Netherlands.

Article 117 of the 1992 Constitution provides that civil or criminal process from any court or place out of Parliament shall not be served on, or executed in relation to, the Speaker or a Member or the Clerk of Parliament while he is on his way to, attending at or returning from any proceedings of Parliament. The constitutional immunity, while not absolute, is expected to feature prominently in any submissions Mr Frimpong’s lawyers may make before the Dutch courts and in Ghana’s own diplomatic representations.

Speaker and international partners engaged

According to the Majority Chief Whip, the Speaker of Parliament, Rt Hon Alban Bagbin, and the Majority Caucus are “actively seeking the assistance of international partners” to obtain the full particulars of the warrant on which the MP is being held and to secure consular and legal access to him.

Ghana’s diplomatic mission in The Hague, working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, is coordinating engagement with the Netherlands Openbaar Ministerie (Public Prosecution Service). Parliament says it is yet to be furnished with an authenticated copy of the arrest warrant.

“We want to urge all the media houses not to be throwing in things that haven’t been confirmed, because even the reason for his arrest, we are yet to have the authenticated copy,” Mr Dafeamekpor cautioned.

Pressed on the broader extradition dimension and comparisons being drawn with the unresolved matter of former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, the Majority Chief Whip pointed to the principle of reciprocity in extradition law and invoked international precedents in which prominent figures have successfully resisted, or significantly delayed, transfer to a requesting jurisdiction — citing former Chilean head of state Augusto Pinochet and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as illustrative cases.

The Caucus’s position, in effect, is that any US extradition application will be litigated to the hilt — first in the Dutch courts, and, should the matter ever reach Ghanaian soil, under the Extradition Act, 1960 (Act 22) and the constitutional shield afforded to sitting members of the legislature.

The man at the centre

Mr Frimpong, widely known as OK Frimpong, won the Asante Akyem North seat in the 2024 general election as an independent candidate, polling 70.25 per cent of the valid votes cast and defeating the NPP incumbent, Mr Andy Appiah-Kubi, in one of the biggest parliamentary upsets in the Ashanti Region. Although elected as an independent, he aligns with the NDC Majority Caucus in the House.

A media entrepreneur and proprietor of Salt Media GH, Mr Frimpong has consistently denied the substance of the allegations now swirling around him. In a letter dated 8 September 2025, his lawyer, Mr Elvis Adu-Ameyaw, stated that there were no pending legal proceedings, civil or criminal, against his client in any court of competent jurisdiction, in Ghana or outside. His aide, Mr Kelly Mensah, reiterated on 27 October 2025 that the MP had “no connection with any travel or visa scheme and has not authorised anybody to carry out such activities.”

MyJoyOnline