Former Chief Executive Officer of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu, is reported to be in custody at the Nevada Southern Detention Centre in the United States.

This information was disclosed in a statement issued by Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States, Emmanuel Victor Smith, dated Thursday, January 15, 2026. According to the statement, Mrs. Tamakloe-Attionu was apprehended by U.S. Marshals on January 6, 2026, and has since remained in detention. The arrest, the ambassador explained, followed an extradition request submitted by Ghanaian authorities to the United States in July 2024. She is currently being held pending court proceedings.

In April 2024, Mrs. Tamakloe-Attionu was sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labour after a court found her guilty on 78 charges. These included causing financial loss to the state, theft, conspiracy, money laundering, and violations of the Public Procurement Act.

Her co-defendant, former MASLOC Chief Operating Officer Daniel Axim, received a five-year custodial sentence with hard labour.

The convictions stemmed from acts committed between 2013 and 2016, involving the misuse of public funds earmarked for MASLOC programmes. The trial, which commenced in 2019, featured testimony from six prosecution witnesses.

Mrs. Tamakloe-Attionu was tried in her absence after failing to return to Ghana following court approval to travel abroad for medical reasons. Mr. Axim, however, appeared before the court but chose not to call any witnesses in his defence.

Among the issues proven during the trial was a GH¢500,000 loan granted to Obaatampa Savings and Loans Company. After the company declined a proposed 24 percent interest rate, the funds were requested back and reportedly returned, but the repayment was never recorded in MASLOC’s financial statements.

The court also established that more than GH¢1.7 million allocated for a public sensitisation programme was diverted. Although MASLOC was expected to distribute GH¢20 each to 85,300 beneficiaries, evidence showed that only GH¢1,300 was used for its intended purpose.

In another instance, only GH¢579,800 of the GH¢1.4 million set aside to support victims of the Kantamanso fire outbreak was paid out, with the remaining amount unlawfully taken.

The case further revealed irregularities in procurement, including inflated prices for vehicles and Samsung mobile phones. Investigations showed that MASLOC paid amounts significantly higher than market rates, even though the items were purchased in bulk.