Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu says reports that former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has applied for permanent residency in the United States raise serious questions about the circumstances under which he was allowed to leave Ghana.

JoyNews has learned that Mr Ofori-Atta submitted an application for permanent residency in the U.S. at a time when he and his family were publicly insisting that his stay abroad was strictly for medical treatment and that he would return to Ghana.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Midday News on Thursday, January 8, Mr Kpebu said the development does not come as a surprise to him.

“I am not surprised at all. I was given this information about two months ago that he had applied for permanent residence, and I mentioned it on some radio discussions,” he said, adding that he declined to disclose his source at the time.

According to him, the confirmation of the claim reinforces long-standing concerns about the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s decision to allow the former minister to travel without bail conditions or sureties.

“It tells you why many of us questioned the decision to allow him to leave the country without any surety,” Kpebu stated. “Once that was done, this outcome was predictable.”

He argued that the absence of travel restrictions created room for Mr Ofori-Atta to regularise his stay abroad, a situation that has now intensified public scrutiny.

“As this matter continues to unfold, more questions will naturally be asked about how the OSP handled the situation and how Mr Ofori-Atta was allowed to leave Ghana in the first place,” he added.