Israel Closes Investigation Into Sale of Pegasus Spyware to Ghana After Six Years of Inaction
Israeli authorities have quietly closed their investigation into the suspected corruption surrounding the sale of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware to Ghana’s National Communications Authority, bringing to an end six years of inquiries that produced no charges despite evidence of wrongdoing that led to prison sentences for three Ghanaian officials.
The decision, reported by Israeli civil rights activists and confirmed through government correspondence, effectively means that no one on the Israeli side will face accountability for a deal that cost the Ghanaian state $4 million and saw a senior official personally profit by $200,000.
In May 2020, a High Court in Accra convicted three Ghanaian public officials for their roles in the procurement of the Pegasus surveillance system through Infralocks Development Ltd, the local representative of NSO Group. Justice Eric Kyei Baffour ruled that the officials had violated procurement laws by independently contracting with NSO without approval from relevant authorities, and found them guilty of conspiracy to steal and launder public funds.
Under Israeli law, the export of surveillance technology like Pegasus requires clearance from the Defence Ministry. In the Ghana case, that clearance was never granted — a fact that should have triggered an investigation on the Israeli side into whether bribery of foreign public officials had occurred, as criminalised under Amendment No. 99 to Israel’s Penal Code enacted in 2008.
Eitay Mack, an Israeli lawyer and human rights activist who has pressed the government to investigate, said the case was shuttled between agencies that were reluctant to act. “The investigation passed from one state agency to the other — from the State Attorney to the head of the police investigations division, and to a special investigative unit within the Ministry of Defence. None of them wanted to take on the investigation due to their proximity to the entity being investigated — NSO Group,” Mack wrote.
The Pegasus spyware operates on a “zero click” principle, meaning it can compromise a target’s device without any action from the user. A simple missed call can be enough to take over a phone, turning it into a covert surveillance tool that provides live audio and video feeds to the operator. The technology works across Android, iPhone and BlackBerry platforms.
Ghana’s own use of Pegasus has drawn scrutiny. Previous reporting has linked the spyware to the surveillance of opposition party members and a journalist, raising concerns about the weaponisation of commercial spyware against political opponents and the press.
Mack noted that Ghana itself never requested that Israel open an investigation into the sale — a silence that effectively allowed both governments to avoid scrutiny of a deal that enriched intermediaries at the expense of the Ghanaian taxpayer.
The closure of the Israeli investigation leaves a troubling precedent. While three Ghanaian officials served prison time for their roles in the deal, the company that sold the technology and the officials who authorised or facilitated the sale on the Israeli side have faced no consequences. For a country that signed anti-corruption conventions with the United Nations and the OECD, the decision sends a signal that the enforcement of those commitments may be selective at best.
Image Source: GHANA BUSINESS NEWS
