Ghana’s Parliament confirmed Tuesday that independent lawmaker Kwame Ohene Frimpong has been detained at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands, with no official reason given for his arrest.
A statement signed by the Clerk to Parliament, Ebenezer Ahumah Djietror, said the matter had been formally brought to the attention of the House and that Speaker Alban Bagbin and parliamentary leadership were in active contact with Ghana’s diplomatic mission in The Hague. “The public will be duly informed appropriately on this matter,” the statement said.
Persons close to Frimpong allege that the MP travelled out of Ghana on Saturday evening and arrived in Amsterdam on Sunday morning, where he was reportedly picked up by security officials before completing immigration procedures.
Frimpong is the Member of Parliament for the Asante Akyem North constituency in the Ashanti Region. He contested the 2024 parliamentary elections as an independent candidate, defeating incumbent New Patriotic Party legislator Andy Kwame Appiah-Kubi in a result that made him one of Ghana’s few successful independent parliamentarians. He subsequently aligned himself with the National Democratic Congress caucus in the ninth Parliament.
Sources quoted in Ghanaian media, citing Ghana’s law enforcement agencies, linked the detention to an international financial crimes investigation involving alleged money laundering and romance scams amounting to approximately US$32 million. Reports indicate the investigation has been ongoing for more than a year and forms part of a wider international operation involving multiple law enforcement agencies across different jurisdictions. Those allegations have not been officially confirmed by Dutch authorities, Parliament, or any law enforcement agency.
The development follows a pattern of denied legal claims surrounding the MP. In September 2025, his legal representatives issued a formal letter stating that no pending legal proceedings existed against him in any jurisdiction, either in Ghana or abroad, following earlier media reports suggesting he was on trial in the United Kingdom. The MP also dismissed arrest rumours at that time via a social media video.
In the recent past, the MP had denied allegations linking him to suspected financial crimes and human trafficking-related offences.
Parliament did not disclose the circumstances behind the detention and did not indicate whether any charges had been communicated to Ghanaian authorities. Ghana’s mission in The Hague is currently working to establish full details of the incident, after which Parliament says it will issue further public updates.
