The Supreme Court of Ghana has granted bail in the sum of GH¢500,000 to Daniel Axim, the former Head of Operations at the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre, pending the determination of his appeal against conviction and sentence.

The bail was granted on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, by a five-member panel of the apex court presided over by Justice Amadu Tanko. The court ordered Axim to provide two sureties, one of whom must be justified with landed property valued at the bail amount and verified by a land surveyor. He is also required to deposit his passport with the registrar of the court and report to the registrar every two weeks.

The court further directed the registrar to keep a formal record of Axim’s reporting and to issue a certificate if he fails to report for three consecutive weeks. In addition, the panel ordered the registrar of the High Court to transmit the full record of proceedings to the Court of Appeal within one month.

Daniel Axim was convicted in April 2024 by the Financial and Economic Division of the High Court, presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. He was tried alongside the former Chief Executive Officer of MASLOC, Sedina Christine Tamakloe-Attionu, who was convicted in absentia and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment with hard labour.

Following his conviction, Axim lodged an appeal through his lawyers, led by Augustines Obour. However, the appeal has not been heard more than a year after it was filed. His legal team subsequently applied for bail pending appeal, arguing that he had already served nearly two years of his sentence and that continued incarceration in the absence of progress on the appeal would occasion injustice.

The bail application was opposed by the state, represented by Principal State Attorney Hilda Craig, who was led by Chief State Attorney Winifred Sarpong. Despite the opposition, the Supreme Court granted bail, citing the circumstances surrounding the stalled appeal.

Axim was convicted for his role in authorising and facilitating multiple financial transactions under the direction of the former MASLOC CEO. The court found that he raised internal memoranda on 23 occasions for the release and collection of funds that were not applied to the projects for which they were approved.

Among the sums cited during the trial were GH¢1,706,000 allocated for a sensitisation and monitoring programme for MASLOC loan beneficiaries, and GH¢1,465,035 meant for victims of the Kantamanto Market fire disaster. The funds were found to be unaccounted for.

The broader MASLOC case involved 78 counts, including conspiracy to steal, stealing, causing financial loss to the state, improper payment of public funds, unauthorised commitments, money laundering, and breaches of the Public Procurement Act. The High Court found that the offences resulted in a financial loss of approximately GH¢90 million to the state.

Meanwhile, Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu remains in detention in the United States following her arrest by U.S. authorities in January 2026, acting on an extradition request from Ghana made in July 2024. Her detention has been confirmed by Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States, Victor Emmanuel Smith, who said she is being held at the Nevada Southern Detention Center pending court proceedings.

Legal analysts say her prospects for bail, should she be extradited to Ghana, are uncertain. Speaking on JoyNews, legal practitioner and lecturer Bobby Banson said he would be surprised if the courts exercised discretion in her favour, given the gravity of the offences and the fact that she was tried and convicted in absentia after leaving the country while on medical leave.

For now, Daniel Axim remains on bail under strict supervision, as the appellate process in the MASLOC case moves forward.