Former CEO of MASLOC Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu arrested and detained in the US
16th January 2026
Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States, Victor Smith, has confirmed the arrest and detention of former Chief Executive Officer of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu, in the United States.
In a statement dated January 15, 2026, the ambassador disclosed that Tamakloe-Attionu was arrested by the US Marshals on January 6, 2026, following an extradition request from Ghanaian authorities.
According to the statement, she is currently being held at the Nevada Southern Detention Centre in Pahrump, Nevada, where she remains in custody pending court proceedings.
“I can today confirm that Mrs Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu is being detained at the Nevada Southern Detention Center in Pahrump, Nevada. My information is that she was detained by the US Marshals on January 6 and has since remained in custody,” the ambassador stated.
He added that the arrest was carried out in response to an extradition request submitted to US authorities in July 2024, and that Tamakloe-Attionu is awaiting her appearance in court.
Background
Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment on April 16, 2024, after being convicted for embezzling GH¢3.19 million during her tenure as MASLOC CEO and causing a deliberate financial loss of GH¢90 million to the state.
She and a former Chief Operating Officer of MASLOC, Daniel Axim, were also found culpable for making unauthorised financial commitments that resulted in obligations of GH¢61.74 million against the government.
Additional charges included the loss of GH¢22.15 million in public property, improper payment of GH¢273,743, and money laundering involving GH¢3.7 million.
In February 2023, the court granted the prosecution’s request to proceed with the trial in Tamakloe-Attionu’s absence after she failed to return to Ghana. She had been granted permission to travel to the United States in 2021 for medical treatment but did not come back to face trial.
Earlier, on January 24, 2023, the court ordered former Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Chief Executive Officer Alex Mould and actor Gavivina Tamakloe to forfeit a GH¢5 million bail bond to the state after they were unable to produce Tamakloe-Attionu, for whom they stood as sureties.
According to prosecutors, investigations by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) in 2017 uncovered fraudulent disbursements of MASLOC funds involving Tamakloe-Attionu and Axim.
The investigations revealed that in June 2014, MASLOC invested US$150,000 in Obaatanpa Microfinance Company Limited, a licensed Tier II microfinance firm based in Ejura in the Ashanti Region. Tamakloe-Attionu later approved an additional GH¢500,000 investment, which was issued to the company through an Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) cheque on July 24, 2014.
Prosecutors alleged that Tamakloe-Attionu demanded a 24% interest rate on the investment. When the company declined, she allegedly requested a refund in cash. Obaatanpa reportedly returned the GH¢500,000 in cash on August 28, 2014.
Although Tamakloe-Attionu acknowledged receipt of the funds in writing, investigations found no official record of the repayment at MASLOC, leading to allegations that the money was misappropriated for personal use. Read the full statement below: