High Court grants GH¢30m bail to Abu Trica in ongoing US extradition case

The High Court in Accra has granted bail in the sum of GH¢30,000,000 to Frederick Kumi, popularly known as Abu Trica, as extradition proceedings to transfer him to the United States continue.

The court ruled that the bail must be secured with two sureties, both to be justified.

Mr Kumi was arrested in Ghana in December 2025 following an indictment by United States authorities, who allege that he was part of a romance scam network that defrauded elderly American victims of more than $8 million.

Previous attempts by the defence to secure bail had been unsuccessful.

In March this year, the Gbese District Court dismissed a preliminary objection filed by Mr Kumi challenging the extradition proceedings initiated at the request of the United States.

Delivering its ruling, the court, presided over by Anna Akosua Appiah Gottfried Anaafi Gyasi, held that the offences underpinning the extradition request, particularly wire fraud, qualify as extraditable offences under the 1931 treaty between Ghana and the United States.

Meanwhile, Mr Kumi has filed a separate suit against the Ministry of the Interior and several investigative bodies, challenging the circumstances surrounding his arrest, detention and interrogation in December 2025.

The defendants include the Narcotics Control Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Economic and Organised Crime Office and the Attorney-General’s Department.

His application to enforce his fundamental human rights under Article 33 of the 1992 Constitution has been filed at the Human Rights Division of the High Court.

He is seeking GH¢10 million in compensation, citing alleged violations of his constitutional rights.

The suit also challenges a statement attributed to the Economic and Organised Crime Office, which described him as a “notorious cyber criminal” and portrayed him as being involved in large scale fraud without a conviction by a court of competent jurisdiction.