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Ghana’s former finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has been detained by U.S. immigration authorities, his lawyers said on Wednesday.
Ofori-Atta, 66, who is wanted in Ghana on suspicion of corruption, has been in the United States since January last year for medical treatment, including prostate cancer surgery.
In a statement, his lawyers said officers of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took him into custody on Tuesday over “the status of his current stay in the United States.”
They said Ofori-Atta had applied to extend his stay in the country and was cooperating fully with U.S. authorities.
“His US legal team is in contact with ICE and expects the matter to be resolved expeditiously,” the statement added.
ICE’s online detainee database listed Ofori-Atta as being held at a facility in the U.S. state of Virginia.
Ofori-Atta was declared a fugitive in Ghana in February last year and was charged with corruption in November. He was accused of causing financial losses to the state, including over a controversial national cathedral, which remains a hole in the ground despite the alleged spending of $58m (£46.6m) of government money.
