MP, Ekow Assafuah petitions OSP, CHRAJ over alleged conflict of interest at COCOBOD
By: Evans Osei-Bonsu
The Member of Parliament for Old Tafo, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, Esq., has filed separate petitions to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), requesting investigations into alleged conflict-of-interest and regulatory concerns at the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD).
The petitions, submitted by the Legislator on Thursday February 19, 2026, call for probes into the conduct of Mr. Ato Boateng, Acting Deputy Chief Executive in charge of Finance and Administration at COCOBOD, in relation to the operations of a private cocoa trading firm, Atlas Commodities Limited.
In the petition to the OSP, the MP wrote that he was seeking “a full criminal and corruption-risk investigation into serious governance, regulatory, and conflict-of-interest concerns arising at the Ghana Cocoa Board.”
The documents state that public records show Mr. Boateng previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Atlas Commodities in 2018, establishing what the MP described as “a direct prior executive and fiduciary relationship with the company.”
According to the petitions, Mr. Boateng now occupies a senior management role at COCOBOD with significant oversight over financial and regulatory processes. The OSP petition states that the position “exercises substantial authority over financial approvals, administrative systems, regulatory coordination, compliance oversight, and operational governance within the cocoa sector.”
The MP further alleges that Atlas Commodities is operating from warehouses registered under Produce Buying Company (PBC), a situation he says breaches COCOBOD regulations.
The petitions note that “each warehouse must be registered under a specific Licensed Buying Company” and must not be used for cocoa belonging to another firm highlighting that that such an arrangement “constitutes a prima facie regulatory breach, and raises serious concerns of institutional facilitation, preferential treatment, regulatory compromise, and abuse of authority.”
In the CHRAJ petition, the MP argues that the situation “raises serious regulatory compliance and governance concerns,” given the official’s previous leadership role in the private company and his current position at COCOBOD.
He is asking the OSP to determine “whether these acts disclose criminal conduct, corruption-related offences, regulatory capture, and conspiracy to abuse public office.”
Similarly, the CHRAJ petition calls for an independent probe into whether the circumstances amount to “conflict of interest, abuse of office, and administrative malpractice.”
Both petitions cite Article 284 of the Constitution, which provides that “a public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts or is likely to conflict with the performance of the functions of his office.”
The MP concluded that the cocoa sector “is a strategic national asset” and said any compromise of its regulatory integrity “poses grave economic and governance risks,” urging urgent investigations in the public interest.
COCOBOD and the officials named in the petitions had not publicly responded at the time of filing.
Find below copies of the petitions.
THE COMMISSION-2 THE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR-1
Source: Purefmonlinegh.com || 2026
