Ex-Minister in "Swedish" Deportations Scam

Investigations conducted by Chronicle have exposed the involvement of the Swedish government and the Swedish consulate in Accra in an illegal deportation syndicate in which the honorary consul in Ghana was paid to facilitate the dumping of non-Ghanaians in Ghana.

The exposure of the syndicate has resulted in a major controversy in Sweden and also formed the basis of court suits against the Swedish government.

Investigations have revealed that the Swedish honorary Consul in Ghana, Mr.Amarkai Amartefio, a highly respected lawyer and a one time Youth and Sports minister in the PNDC era, exploited the opportunity and made monetary gains for giving the greenlight that the deportees could be brought into Ghana, even though he knew that it was against international immigration laws.

In most cases, voices and pictures of such deportees would be recorded and sent to Mr. Amarkai, who would sit in his office and listen to the tapes and then confirm that that person was a Ghanaian and should be repatriated to Ghana.

In most cases, Mr. Amarkai's judgments were wrong, resulting in the deportation of innocent people who became a burden on the Ghana Immigration Service.

Based on the greenlight from Mr. Amarkai, the Swedish government would then send police escorts in chartered flights to accompany the deportees to Accra where they were met on arrival at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) by Mr. Amarkai Amarteifio.

Mr. Amarkai's, law firm, Amarteifio & Company, would then be awarded an automatic contract from the Swedish government for which he charged not less than $25 per hour for "legal services".

The honorary consul in some instances usurped the powers of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) and carried out what he describes as "investigating the backgrounds of the deportees".

Mr. Amarkai admits that after the so-called investigations he sometimes hired private security personnel to escort them out of the country.

But there is evidence that he collected money ranging between $1800 and $2000 from the Swedish government as air ticket.

Speaking in an interview with the Chronicle on Monday, Mr. Amarkai admitted that his company, which shares the same building with the Consulate, received payments from the Swedish government but added that the money he received were below the rates prescribed by the Ghana Bar Association.

Even though international human watch groups in Sweden said that honorary consul was motivated by the monetary gains to okay the illegal deportations, Mr. Amarkai denied this.

He also denied that he was caught in a conflict of interest situation as an honorary Consul to the Swedish government who represents the interests of that government and received financial gains for such an operation.

"Well, I don't think it was conflict of interest, because the Swedish government was prepared to pay and they did not question me.

They knew they were dealing with a law firm which I am connected with but they dealt with me and did not question,." he said.

Investigations revealed that when the Ghana Immigration Service became aware of the syndicate they protested and tightened up security which resulted in the detention of some Swedish police escorts.

Some of the deportees were also returned to Sweden by the GIS because nothing proved that they were Ghanaians.

After the GIS tightened up security at the airport, the Swedish deportees arrived in Ghana without escorts.

The only person who met them on arrival was Mr. Amarkai.

It also became evident that most of the so-called investigations into the background of the deportees by Amarkai was done without the knowledge and involvement of GIS.

But in a letter to the Swedish authorities dated 1995, Mr. Amarkai recommended that the Swedish government should invite one Mr. Khartey of GIS to Sweden because he had been very cooperative in the syndicate.

"The Ghana Immigration Service has been very cooperative in this exercise.
As you are aware, they are not obliged to accept a deportee if it is not established that he is a Ghanaian.
"In many cases they have helped to establish the nationality of these deportees and even escorted him to his country. One Ghanaian immigration officer who has been most helpful is Mr. Khartey" the letter said.
This letter betrays Mr. Amarkai's later assertion that the money received from the Swedish government was used to investigate the background of the deportees.

When Mr. Amarkai was questioned by the Chronicle on the letter, he admitted knowing Mr. Khartey "very well", but said he did not remember writing such a letter.

Official police reports gave a vivid account of how the syndicate was operated.

On February 24, 1994, a man (his name was deleted by Swedish police as part of security measures) was deported to Ghana after an unsuccessful deportation to a neighboring country.

Upon arrival at KIA the deportee was left in the hands of the Immigration Service while the Swedish police escort went to lodge at Golden Tulip.

The Swedish policeman contacted Mr. Amarkai, who readily promised assistance. GIS sent the deportee to the police for interrogation.

Later, Mr. Amarkai told the GIS that the deportee had confessed that he was not a Ghanaian and he was deported and escorted to the Togo border. For this operation Mr. Amarkai got $1100 from the Swedish Government.

On October, 5, 1995, two Nigerians , Lewis Idahosa and Theophilus Owie, were deported to Ghana. On arrival at KIA, the two Nigerians raised hell, questioning why they were not deported to their home country.

They even went to the extent of accusing the Ghana government of receiving bribe from the Swedish government to accept such illegal deportees.

GIS rejected the deportees and insisted that they should be repatriated back to Sweden. The directive was enforced

On February 9, the Swedish government again attempted to deport Owie and Idahosa to Accra.

In the letter to Mr. Amarkai, the Swedish police said they were prepared to pay any amount of money to have the two Nigerians deported to Ghana.
Idahosa sneaked to Germany but Owie was accepted in Ghana.

In February 1996, another Nigerian, Gregory Freeman, was deported to Ghana under very brutal circumstances. He was chained, and cotton wool was stuffed in his anus to prevent him from visiting the gents throughout the journey to Accra.

Chronicle gathered that the GIS protested against the manner in which the Nigerian was deported and even organized a press conference on that issue.
The Swedish police paid Mr. Amarkai $1850.

On February 6, 1997, a Bobby Smith, who claimed he was a Liberian was painfully deported to Ghana. He was met at the airport by Amarkai, who assisted at the airport and even told GIS later that Smith had accepted to travel to Nigeria on his own. Amarkai received about $1200 from the Swedish government.

On April, 14, 1997, Peter Bizimungo who claimed he was from Rwanda was deported to Ghana after an unsuccessful deportation to Zimbabwe and Nigeria.

Amarkai got $1700 for repatriating him. Amarkai in a letter to the Swedish government said that Bizimungo had been deported to Nigeria.

But Bizimungo maintained that he spent about 2 months at the Osu Police Station which was usually used as detention camp for the deportees.

He said Mr. Amarkai provided him a Ghanaian traveling document and escorted him to the Togo border .

On September 15, 1997, one Kaba Mamoudou from the Ivory Coast was slated for deportation to Ghana after an unsuccessful deportation to Guinea. Kaba was returned to Sweden by Guinean immigration.
Ghana was chosen but Kaba refused to get on board and created a scene at the airport in Stockholm, which prevented his deportation to Ghana.
Mr. Amarkai admitted that he received the monies but explained that part of the money was used for the up-keep of the deportees.
This has, however, been denied by some of the deportees.
The Swedish authorities however said that they did not deem it necessary to ask Mr. Amarkai how and for what he used the money because their primary aim was to get rid of the deportees.

On April, 30, 1995 a political asylum seeker from Sudan was deported to Ghana.He spent several years in prison. Amarkai got $2047 from the Swedish government.
When Chronicle asked why nationals of other countries were deported to Ghana against international immigration laws Mr. Amarkai said that the Swedish government assumed that they were from Ghana.
"They assume that they are Ghanaians" he said.
Speaking in an interview with a team of Swedish journalists in the presence of this reporter on why other nationals are deported to Ghana, Mr. Amarkai said "They send people here believing that they are Ghanaians..As I said, it is very difficult to tell who and who are lying. It is only when they come that you can know that this one is a Ghanaian and this one is not.
"We investigate whether they are Gambians, Guineans, Seirra-Leonains or Nigerians" he said.
On Monday he told the Chronicle that after listening to a deportee's voice on tape or watching his picture he can establish that the person is a Ghanaian.
"Sometimes when you look at the picture you can see clearly that this is Kwesi Mensah from Kukruantumi" he said.
Even though, the Swedish police entered into agreement with Mr. Amarkai that if it turned out that the deportees were not a Ghanaian they should be sent back to Sweden, investigations have revealed that not a single deportee was sent back. They were either abandoned in Ghana or sent to Nigeria, Togo etc.
Strangely, translated versions of Swedish police reports presented to the Swedish government said that they had "sold" the deportees to Ghana.