Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, the former CEO of Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority (NPA), has fired back at the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) with a hefty GH¢20 million defamation lawsuit, claiming their public accusations of corruption have wrecked his career and good name.
The suit, lodged on November 10 at the High Court in Accra, targets a February 12, 2025, media briefing where OSP head Kissi Agyebeng announced probes into the alleged siphoning of GH¢1.3 billion from the Unified Petroleum Price Fund (UPPF)—pointing fingers directly at Hamid as one of four suspects.
Hamid’s lawyers at Applade Chambers argue he was blindsided, never notified of any investigation, and had zero hand in any wrongdoing. They call the claims “false, malicious, and unjustified,” noting that later probes found no such massive embezzlement.
Beyond the cash demand, Hamid wants an unreserved apology, a full public retraction, and a court order barring the OSP and its team from any more “defamatory” jabs.
He says the fallout has left him humiliated, emotionally drained, and shut out of plum gigs like overseas consulting and university lecturing—tarnishing his standing as a scholar, politician, and public servant.
His legal team fired off a retraction demand on February 17, but the OSP shot back on February 19, summoning him for questioning on UPPF mismanagement instead.
That sparked a messy escalation: The OSP ramped up criminal charges against Hamid and nine others—from 25 to 54 counts of extortion, public office abuse, and money laundering tied to over GH¢291 million and US$332,000 allegedly squeezed from oil firms between 2022 and 2024.
They’ve frozen assets worth over GH¢100 million, including fuel stations, homes, trucks, and land, but Hamid’s camp insists none of it links to him.
Hamid, out on GH¢2 million bail since July, has dismissed the whole prosecution as “useless” and politically driven, while the OSP calls it “serious and substantial,” backed by ironclad docs and bank records.
As the criminal trial heats up at Accra High Court (Case Cr/0603/2025), this civil smackdown adds fuel to a fiery clash testing Ghana’s anti-graft warriors against a high-profile target.
