Former Managing Director of the Bulk Oil Storage & Transportation Company (BOST) (BOST), Edwin Nii Obodai Provencal, has been arrested by the Economic & Organised Crime Office (EOCO) as he sought to board a flight abroad while still under travel restrictions.
According to reports, Provencal was apprehended at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra on Monday, 10 November 2025, as he prepared to fly to Maputo, Mozambique for a scheduled engagement. He was said to have been placed on a “stop-list” on 8 October 2025—a directive that allegedly barred him from leaving the country—though he claimed he had not been aware of this restriction at the time of his attempted travel.
Neither EOCO nor other official agencies have yet publicly detailed the precise charges or the basis for the stop-list designation in his case. However, media commentary links the action to alleged irregularities in the “gold-for-oil” programme introduced by a prior administration—an initiative that aimed to use Ghana’s gold reserves to secure fuel imports and had attracted scrutiny for lack of transparency.
Commenting publicly on the arrest, former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Boadu, stressed the importance of following due process even in high-profile corruption or financial-crime investigations. “We in the NPP are not saying that when people are found culpable in a crime, they shouldn’t face the law. But due process must be followed,” Boadu said in an interview with Accra-based radio. He also warned against conflating individual alleged wrongdoing with damage to the party itself, saying: “If someone is accused of stealing or embezzling funds, they did not bring it to the NPP or finance the party… Maybe they financed their constituencies or a candidate, but not the day-to-day running of the party.”
Provencal’s arrest is the latest in a series of moves by Ghanaian law-enforcement agencies targeting former officials and executives in the energy and resource sectors. Given his role at BOST—a key state-owned enterprise charged with overseeing the country’s oil storage and transportation infrastructure—his detention raises significant questions about accountability and governance in Ghana’s petroleum sector.
Observers note that being placed on a stop-list typically means an individual is barred from international travel pending investigations or legal proceedings. The fact that the stop-list was issued more than a month before his attempted travel—and that he may have been unaware of it—could complicate the case and highlight gaps in communication or enforcement of such measures.
In the coming days, attention will focus on whether formal charges are filed, whether Provencal is released on bail or held in custody, and how the investigation unfolds. Transparency around the reasons for his restriction and detention will be critical in maintaining public confidence in the anti‐corruption drive. For now, the arrest underscores the shifting mood in Ghana toward greater scrutiny of public-sector executives and the mechanisms used to hold them to account.
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