NSS Ghost Names Saga: Hearing adjourned after lawyers inform court Gifty Oware-Mensah has submitted a two-day medical excuse duty

The High Court in Accra has adjourned proceedings in the cases involving the former Director-General of the National Service Authority (NSA), Osei Asibey Antwi, and his deputy, Gifty Oware-Mensah, following their absence from court.

In the case of the former Director-General, Osei Asibey Antwi, his lawyer appeared before the High Court today, informing the court that his client had been instructed to report to police investigators in Kumasi and was currently there.

Dressed in African print, the lawyer further noted that the defence team had not yet been served with a charge sheet.

The court subsequently directed that the charge sheet and hearing notices be served on the accused, after which the matter would be recalled for hearing.

Meanwhile, in the separate case involving the former Deputy Executive Director of the NSA, Gifty Oware-Mensah, the court was informed that she had presented a two-day medical excuse duty.

As a result, the case has been adjourned and is expected to be recalled at a later date, likely next week.

Both cases are part of ongoing legal proceedings relating to alleged financial and administrative infractions at the National Service Authority.

This comes on the back of the corruption scandal that allegedly defrauded the country of about GH¢653 million.

In two separate court documents filed at the High Court in Accra, the state accuses the former Executive Director, Osei Assibey Antwi, and the former Deputy Executive Director, Gifty Oware-Mensah of orchestrating two distinct schemes that siphoned public funds through “ghost” service personnel and fraudulent bank loans.

The Executive Director’s Alleged GH¢615 Million Scheme

Osei Assibey Antwi faces a staggering fourteen counts for his alleged role in what is one of the largest financial loss cases in recent memory.

The charges include causing financial loss to the Republic, with the flagship charge accusing him of authorizing the payment of allowances to more than 60,000 non-existent national service personnel, resulting in a loss of GH¢500,861,744.02.

He also faces multiple counts of stealing, totaling GH¢8,256,000, on specific dates between August 2023 and May 2024.

Mr Antwi is further accused of misusing project funds by authorizing the withdrawal of GH¢106 million from the NSA’s Kumawu Farm Project account on five occasions without spending a cedi on the project.

The state also alleges he committed money laundering by transferring GH¢8.26 million directly into his personal e-zwich account and taking possession of the funds, knowing they were proceeds of crime.

The total approximate value of the offences attributed to Mr Antwi is GH¢615,117,744.02.

The Deputy Director’s Elaborate Loan Fraud

Meanwhile, Gifty Oware-Mensah faces five counts, including Stealing, Willfully Causing Financial Loss, Using Public Office for Profit, and Money Laundering.

According to the brief facts of the case, Oware-Mensah, who oversaw the NSA’s Finance and Procurement departments, allegedly engineered an elaborate scam involving the NSA’s “marketplace” platform, a system designed to provide hire-purchase services to service personnel.

The prosecution alleges she took control of a private company, Blocks of Life Consult, and generated a list of 9,934 ghost names from the NSA’s system.

She then approached the Agricultural Development Bank, falsely claiming her company had supplied goods to these ghosts and needed a loan, using their non-existent allowances as collateral.

This led to her orchestrating a loan agreement between ADB and the NSA, resulting in a GH¢31.5 million disbursement directly into her company’s account. She subsequently transferred over GH¢22.9 million of this amount to another company where she was a director.

No goods were ever supplied to any service personnel.

With accrued interest, her actions allegedly caused a total loss of GH¢38,458,248.87 to the state.