The Attorney-General is working with US authorities to pursue other people allegedly involved in a bribery scheme linked to the financing of a major power plant after a Ghanaian-American businessman was convicted in New York, a senior Ghanaian official said Saturday.

Deputy Attorney-General Justice Srem Sai said Attorney-General Dominic Ayine was engaging his US counterparts following the conviction of businessman and former Goldman Sachs executive Asante Kwaku Berko.

Berko, a dual US-Ghanaian citizen, was found guilty by a federal jury in Brooklyn of conspiring to violate the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), violating the FCPA and conspiring to commit money laundering.

“The Attorney-General is engaging his counterparts in the United States of America to bring to book persons implicated in the bribery scheme,” Srem Sai said in a Facebook post on Saturday (8 August).

The nine-day trial centred on allegations that Berko helped arrange financing for a multimillion-dollar power plant in Ghana between 2014 and 2017, while working as an executive director at Goldman Sachs.

According to US prosecutors, Berko helped facilitate more than US$1 million in bribes to Ghanaian officials in an effort to secure government approval for the project.

The proposed plant was being developed during a severe electricity crisis in Ghana, with a Turkish energy company seeking financing and government approval for the project.

Prosecutors alleged that Berko and his co-conspirators planned a US$1 million payment to Ghana’s then-Power Minister in April 2015.

Five Ghanaian government officials also allegedly received US$5,000 each during an all-expenses-paid trip to Turkey to inspect equipment linked to the proposed plant, the prosecution said.

Additional payments allegedly made by Berko included tens of thousands of dollars in bribes connected to the transaction.

Ghana’s Parliament approved the power plant agreement in July 2015.

US prosecutors said Berko and others used shell companies, false invoices, nominee bank accounts and cash withdrawals to conceal the alleged payments from Goldman Sachs and other parties involved in the transaction.

Goldman Sachs later withdrew from the deal after corruption concerns emerged.

Berko faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison when he is sentenced in November.

The criminal conviction follows a 2021 civil case brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which resulted in a judgment against Berko over the same bribery allegations. He was permanently barred from violating the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions and ordered to surrender alleged illicit gains and interest.

Berko was extradited to the United States from Britain in July 2024 after being arrested in London in November 2022.

The conviction has renewed scrutiny in Ghana over the power plant agreement and the alleged involvement of Ghanaian officials.

Ghanaian authorities have not publicly identified any other individuals they are investigating in connection with the alleged scheme.

The Attorney-General’s cooperation with US authorities could lead to further investigations and possible prosecutions if evidence establishes that other people participated in the alleged bribery scheme.