The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF), Justina Nelson, has filed a defamation suit against three newspaper editors and six newspapers (defendants), demanding ten million Ghana cedis for what she says are libelous words published against.
Mrs Justina Nelson is also praying the court to place a perpetual injunction against the defendants, whether by themselves, their agents, or assigns, from further publishing or causing to be published the defamatory words against her.
She also wants a retraction and apology by the defendants with equal prominence to the publication of the defamatory words complained of. Lastly, she wants the court to grant her cost, including solicitor’s fees.
The editors affected are Ken Kuranchie, Wilberforce Asare, and Daniel Bampoe. The newspapers are The Daily Searchlight, The Source, The Daily Gist, The Custodian, The Ghanaian Publisher, and The New Crusading Guide.
In her statement of claim, Mrs Justina Nelson indicated that the newspapers and the editors published, on 26 November 2025, what she says are “libelous statements against her, falsely alleging her involvement in financial mismanagement and the coercion of the Auditor General.”
“The words complained of are meant and were understood to mean that: The plaintiff has deliberately and with malice manufactured and misrepresented figures in a financial statement of MllF for purposes of portraying mismanagement.
“The plaintiff is incompetent and engaged in the criminal activity of falsification of official records for the purpose of misleading state institutions and engineering wrongful arrest. The plaintiff has attempted to force and/or coerce the Auditor-General of Ghana to falsify audited accounts of MllF,” the statement of claim read.
“The above statements are untrue, malicious, and published without justification. The defendants knew or ought to have known that these allegations were false and made with reckless disregard for the truth.
“As a direct result of these publications, the plaintiff has suffered grave injury to her character, credit, and reputation, as well as significant hurt, distress, and embarrassment.
“The defendants deliberately orchestrated the defamation campaign, knowing its falsity or recklessly disregarding the truth, with the intention of causing substantial reputational harm to the plaintiff (Mrs Justina Nelson),” the statement of claim further read.
The Publication
“A months-long investigation has uncovered a coordinated effort within the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) to manufacture a corruption narrative against its former executives and to secretly pressure the Audit Service to rewrite already-signed audited financial statements.
“For months, the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) has insisted that its former leadership mismanaged billions of cedis under the previous administration.
“That narrative, repeated in meetings, media engagements, and arrests engineered through state institutions, has fed public perception and triggered high-profile detentions by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).
“But investigation reveals a radically different story: a coordinated internal plot led by MIIF CEO, Ms. Justina Nelson, to manufacture financial mismanagement where none existed, and to coerce the Auditor-General into rewriting already signed audited financial statements when the evidence failed to support that narrative.
“The result is a scandal that strikes at the heart of public accountability and threatens to shake the foundations of the Mahama administration.
The Plot Against Former MIIF Executives
“Interviews across MIIF, the Audit Service, Parliament, and law enforcement agencies point to a deliberate plan by the new MIIF leadership to brand the previous executives as corrupt and incompetent.
“Immediately after assuming office, the new management launched an aggressive internal and media campaign alleging that the former CEO, Board Chair, and senior executives had grossly mismanaged the Fund.
“This narrative was followed by coordinated arrests of the former board chairman, multiple senior managers, and, eventually, private sector partners who merely did business with MIIF.
“These arrests were carried out by the OSP and EOCO, both of which, according to our investigation, relied on financial statements prepared not by an independent agency but by the new MIIF management itself.
“Yet insiders with direct knowledge of the process said those statements were deliberately crafted to portray financial mismanagement, despite the actual numbers proving the opposite. Most of these insiders were subsequently fired and are now suing MIIF for wrongful termination, unfair dismissal, and other claims.
When the Auditor-General Ruined the Script
“The financial statements prepared by the new management were submitted to the Auditor-General for the mandatory audit. But the Auditor-General concluded that MIIF’s leadership did not expect, and did not want. According to the Auditor-General, MIIF had been prudently managed and had recorded significant profits.
“Multiple former employees of MIIF confirmed to this newspaper that the Auditor-General’s team rejected MIIF’s attempts to portray losses, insisting that the numbers demonstrated sound financial management, strong investment returns, and profitability that contradicted the new leadership’s narrative.
“A globally recognized independent auditor consulted by this newspaper agreed:
“The audit evidence overwhelmingly showed competent management. It appears the financial statements were initially drafted to imply mismanagement, but the numbers refused to cooperate.”
“Unable to alter the figures, the CEO and Board Chair eventually signed the audited financial statements on 26 June 2025. The Auditor-General signed them the next day. At that point, the narrative of “mismanagement” was dead. Or so everyone thought.
The Media Publishes the Truth, MIIF Retaliates
“Once the audited statements began circulating in media circles, major outlets published stories highlighting MIIF’s profitability. An article by Hon. Patrick Boamah, MP for Okaikwei Central, went viral after revealing strong financial returns.
MIIF’s CEO reacted swiftly
“She ordered her Corporate Affairs Department to issue rejoinders falsely debunking the numbers, numbers she had personally signed.
“Then, in a move described by multiple insiders as “vindictive and discriminatory,” the CEO allegedly compiled a selective list of former board members and submitted it to the OSP.
“The targeted officials were detained or interrogated, while others, whose roles were identical, were inexplicably left out. One insider summed it up: “The arrests were weaponized to reinforce a false narrative.”
The Desperate Attempt to Rewrite an Already-Signed Audit
“In September 2025, a former board member filed an RTI request seeking the 2024 audited financials. MIIF ignored the request twice. The same board member requested details on MIIF’s compliance with its statutory reporting obligations. Again, MIIF refused to respond.
“Faced with the possibility that the truth would surface, the CEO launched what one senior public auditor called “a shocking and improper attempt to rewrite history.”
“On 31 October 2025, MIIF wrote to the Audit Service, claiming the signed and completed 2024 statements contained: “Material and pervasive misstatements capable of misleading users.”
“This request came months after the audit had been signed, and just weeks after MIIF refused to respond to the RTI.
“On 7 November 2025, MIIF met with Audit Service officials to negotiate a restatement; an extraordinary and unprecedented move. The Audit Service rejected the request outright.
The Audit Service Blows the Whistle
“In a damning letter dated 12 November 2025, the Audit Service warned MIIF that;
(1) The statements did not contain any material or pervasive misstatements.
(2) MIIF’s use of the term “pervasive” was misleading.
(3) The request to rewrite the audit was “improper.”
(4) The Audit Service would not alter any aspect of the 2024 audit.
(5) They were willing, however, to assist with the 2025 audit, but not falsify history.
“This letter, received by MIIF on 13 November 2025, confirms the extraordinary nature of the attempted cover-up.
“When contacted for comment, MIIF confirmed receipt of the correspondence but declined to discuss its contents, describing it as “confidential.”
Conclusion — A State Fund in Crisis, A Government on Trial
“MIIF, by law, must operate with the highest levels of transparency, accountability, and integrity. Instead, its current leadership is now implicated in a coordinated campaign of falsehoods, weaponization of law enforcement bodies, attempts to rewrite a completed and signed audit, repeated violations of the RTI Act and MIIF Act, and a pattern of intimidation and retaliation against former officials.
“These are not administrative lapses. They constitute ethical breaches and institutional subversions that undermine Ghana’s sovereign investment architecture.
“Ghanaians and the international investment community are now watching closely. The President must decide whether to defend integrity and the rule of law, or to allow this sinister attempt to falsify audited financial records to stain his administration permanently. If this scandal is not confronted head-on, MIIF may not be the only institution to fall.”
