GH¢122 Million Vanishes: Inside GoldBod's Latest Gold Trading Fraud Scandal

A gold dealer under the Ghana Gold Board's (GoldBod) aggregator system now faces criminal charges after allegedly diverting GH¢121,790,725 advanced to him for a 100-kilogramme gold supply that never materialized the largest of several fraud cases to expose gaping holes in the financial controls underpinning Ghana's state-run gold trading architecture.

How the Money Disappeared
According to details reported by The Herald, Raymond Okai-Woode, owner of McWoode Ray 24 Enterprise and a Tier-2 licence holder under GoldBod, approached fellow Tier-2 dealer William Akatsi, alias Dela, owner of Yassbel Gold Enterprise, with an offer to supply 100 kilograms of gold. Akatsi, who like Okai-Woode receives funds advanced through GoldBod's aggregator, Bawa Rock, to purchase and supply gold, accepted the offer.

In July 2026, Akatsi advanced the full GH¢121,790,725 to Okai-Woode on the strength of a booking in which Okai-Woode allegedly represented that he already had the gold in hand and could deliver it within 24 hours. The gold never came. On July 8, 2026, Okai-Woode supplied only 3.86504 kilogrammes, valued at GH¢5,551,817 a small fraction of the money advanced. The rest was never delivered, and Okai-Woode allegedly became unreachable, prompting Akatsi to search for him.

The Explanation Behind the Diversion
When investigators eventually tracked down and arrested Okai-Woode, he reportedly admitted during interrogation that he had used the money advanced by Akatsi to settle his own debts. He is said to have told investigators that Dominic Bonsu Ventures, a sub-aggregator, owed him money, and that he had been waiting for that payment to settle his obligation to Akatsi an account that, notably, entangles this case with a separate, unrelated controversy involving Dominic Bonsu Ventures that GoldBod has spent recent days publicly denouncing as fabricated (see below).

GoldBod's own investigations reportedly established that Okai-Woode had breached the terms and conditions of his licence, which prohibit fraudulent or illegal, conduct, and had also, supplied false information during the transaction. He has since been arraigned before the High Court, Criminal Division, in Accra, on two counts: failing to comply with the terms and conditions of his GoldBod licence, contrary to Section 63(1)(c) and (2) of the Ghana Gold Board Act, 2025 (Act 1140), and providing false information, contrary to Section 63(1)(b) and (2) of the same Act.

Not an Isolated Incident
This is not the first, or even the largest cumulative, fraud case to hit GoldBod's aggregator system this year. In May 2026, two businessmen, Kenneth Torbizo, 49, and Ernest Kofi Nyatorgbe, 37, operating under Torbiken Enterprise, were denied bail by an Accra Circuit Court over an alleged scheme to defraud gold purchasing company Max Palasco of GH¢49,595,816. Prosecutors said the accused approached the company's Chief Financial Officer, Kofi Asaah Attakurah, in January 2026 with an offer to supply 32 kilograms of gold, collected the money, and then failed to deliver either the gold or a refund. Given the scale of that case, prosecutors said it would be referred to the Attorney-General for advice.

Taken together, the two cases account for more than GH¢170 million in funds advanced within GoldBod's aggregator system for gold that was never fully delivered a pattern that has intensified scrutiny of how the Board tracks and safeguards money advanced to Tier-2 dealers before gold changes hands.

A Separate Controversy Muddying the Waters

The Okai-Woode case has also become entangled, at least in the public conversation, with a separate and unrelated controversy: a viral social media claim that Dominic Bonsu Ventures, a company GoldBod says has no connection to this case, absconded with GH¢200 million belonging to the Board itself, and that its proprietor, Dominic Bonsu, once served as a bodyguard to GoldBod's Chief Executive Officer, Sammy Gyamfi. GoldBod has firmly and repeatedly denied both claims, describing them as false, malicious, and intended to mislead the public.

The Board says Dominic Bonsu Ventures' licence was instead suspended over suspected breaches of its licence terms and the GoldBod Trading Directives, and that Bonsu was arrested and remanded by the High Court in Accra over a complaint filed by his aggregator counterparty a case GoldBod insists involves no financial loss to the Board and does not touch the GH¢200 million figure being circulated.

What Comes Next
The Okai-Woode case underscores a structural vulnerability that GoldBod, as Ghana's relatively young state gold trading authority under the 2025 Gold Board Act, will need to address as it scales up operations: the gap between advancing large sums of public and quasi-public capital to licensed Tier-2 dealers and actually securing physical delivery of gold before those funds are released. With prosecutions now underway in both the Okai-Woode and Torbizo-Nyatorgbe cases, and GoldBod publicly fighting to separate fact from viral rumor in the Dominic Bonsu affair, the coming weeks in court will test both the strength of the Board's regulatory enforcement and the credibility of its public communications strategy.

Mustapha Bature Sallama.
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal investigation and Intelligence Analysis.

International Conflict Management and Peace Building.USIP

mustysallama@gmail.com
+233-555-275-880
References
The Herald Ghana, "GoldBod's operations repeatedly falling victim to fraud," August 10, 2026. https://theheraldghana.com/goldbods-operations-repeatedly-falling-victim-to-fraud/

Business Day Ghana, "GoldBod suspends Dominic Bonsu Ventures' licence over alleged regulatory breaches," August 2026. https://businessdayghana.com/goldbod-suspends-dominic-bonsu-ventures-licence-over-alleged-regulatory-breaches/

Pulse Ghana, "GoldBod rejects false claims it lost GH¢200m to Sammy Gyamfi's alleged bodyguard, explains what really happened," August 2026. https://www.pulse.com.gh/story/goldbod-rejects-false-claims-it-lost-ghcent200m-to-sammy-gyamfis-alleged-bodyguard-explains-what-really-happened-2026080316565103704

Ghana News Agency, "GoldBod denies social media claims over alleged GH¢200 million loss," August 5, 2026. https://gna.org.gh/2026/08/goldbod-denies-social-media-claims-over-alleged-gh%C2%A2200-million-loss/

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