US-Ghana Dual Citizen Faces FCPA Charges for Bribing Ghanaian Officials

A dual U.S.-Ghana citizen made his initial appearance in a New York court July 16, a day after being extradited from the U.K. for his role in a scheme to bribe Ghanaian officials, DOJ announced. Asante Kwaku Berko is charged with one count of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, one count of violating the FCPA and one count of conspiring to commit money laundering.

From 2014 to 2017, Berko worked as a banking executive and allegedly conspired with others to pay the bribes. Berko was part of a team that was responsible for brokering a deal between a Turkish energy company and the Ghanaian government to build a power plant in the West African nation.

Berko allegedly offered and paid over $70,000 in bribes to Ghanaian officials in exchange for the government's aid in "ensuring that the Turkish energy company was successful in winning the bid to build and operate the power plant," DOJ said.