The Chief Executive Officer of Goldridge Refinery Ltd, Nana Yaw Duodu, popularly known as Dr. Sledge, has been released from the custody of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) after meeting his bail conditions on Monday, September 29.
Duodu is under investigation for suspected corruption and corruption-related offences linked to the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF), particularly in the management of its gold trade programme.
In February this year, the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, announced a probe into alleged corruption and related offences within MIIF’s operations, focusing on payments and transactions tied to several high-profile projects.
It is alleged that over $94 million in state funds were lost through Goldridge Refinery’s failure to honour trade settlements under the Gold for Forex and Gold for Oil initiatives.
The Minerals Income Investment Fund had earlier addressed reports of a $90 million loss, clarifying that its internal investigations showed the fund disbursed the cedi equivalent of $30 million in three tranches of $10 million each to Goldridge, its first aggregator, in 2023. This revolving monthly outlay, the fund noted, yielded an average of about $60 million per month over eleven months.
MIIF also explained that its participation in the now-terminated Gold for Oil programme did not involve any direct capital outlay from the fund. Instead, oil bulk distribution companies provided cedis to MIIF’s Trade Desk through the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors.
This arrangement reportedly generated about $650 million in foreign exchange between February and September 2024, which was used to support the payment of fuel imports.
Sources at the OSP told Citi News that Duodu is expected to report to investigators every Tuesday as the probe continues.
