Bright Mensah Bonsu, the man who received US$1.5million cash and signed documents purporting to sell a prime beachfront diplomatic property belonging to Ghana’s High Commission in Nigeria has finally been arrested by Ghanaian security operatives.
In a Facebook post, Minister of Foreign Affairs Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said, the suspect described himself as a special aide to former Ghana High Commissioner to Nigeria, the late Alhaji Rashid Bawa who was appointed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
According him, the US$1.5million cash was not paid into government accounts, neither is there any record at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the cash was officially declared.
The Minister said, documents reveal that Bonsu and his collaborators had valued the prime Lagos beachfront diplomatic property at US$5.3million and considered the US$1.5million payment as the first instalment. But the outcome of the 2024 elections must have thwarted their plans.
Questionable Diplomatic Passport
“We are also investigating the circumstances under which Bright Mensah Bonsu was issued a diplomatic passport on October 18, 2023 by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government when from all assessments, he could not have been eligible for a diplomatic passport,” the Minister wrote.
He said Bonsu was not a staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Ghana High Commission in Nigeria, even though he was often seen in the company of the High Commissioner.
“As we await criminal prosecution shortly, it would be interesting to see how Bonsu backs his claims that he acted on the instructions of his superiors, and that those superiors gave him access to documents on the diplomatic property.
The Minister said this latest significant development should send clear assurances to Nigerian government officials and the Nigerian attempted buyer who have all desperately petitioned the Mahama government to intervene, that consistent with what this government has always said, “we take this matter very seriously and will do everything in our power to bring the notorious criminals to justice and recover the US$1.5million.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said the Mahama administration would not shield anyone who played a role in this grand conspiracy not only to commit crime but to dent Ghana’s enviable international image.
He said the Government of Ghana is equally determined not to allow this condemnable incident to mar its great and ancestral bilateral relations with Nigeria.
“We promised that justice will be done, we are keeping our word,” he said. “Let me state for the umpteenth time, no diplomatic property belonging to the people of Ghana is for sale — severe consequences awaits anyone who tests our resolve.”
