Full text: AG's statement on ORAL investigation into financial malfeasance at NSA
Source: myjoyonline

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media, My Fellow countrymen and women, The National Service Program was first established under the National Service Scheme Degree, 1973 (NRCD 208), to provide the basis for our citizens to undertake national service upon meeting specified criteria. The program is currently regulated under the National Service Authority Act, 2024 (Act 1119). According to the Memorandum accompanying the Bill prior to its enactment, besides the object of mobilizing and posting persons qualified to undertake national service in areas of national priority for the development of our beloved country, the National Service Authority has a statutory obligation to "inculcate the values of civic responsibility, discipline, patriotism, national cohesion and voluntarism in persons qualified to undertake national service". Far from inculcating these values into the young men and women qualified and deployed to undertake national service, the criminal enterprise that we have investigated for the four (4) months undermines and makes nonsense of these core values of citizenship. My Fellow countrymen and women You may recall that as part of the Operation-Recover-All-Loot (ORAL) agenda of His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama, a comprehensive report on acts of malfeasance, looting of state resources and corruption by public officers was compiled and submitted to my Office in February this year. I was tasked by the President to thoroughly investigate the allegations contained in the ORAL Report and to prosecute any persons found to have engaged in any act of criminality involving the looting of state resources and or deliberately or recklessly causing the state to lose such resources. The now-famous National Service Scandal, which was first uncovered by the Fourth Estate through its investigative journalism, formed a major plank of the ORAL Report. My Office is extremely grateful to the Fourth Estate for the excellent foundational work that they did. In my last press briefing held on March 24, 2025, I made clear that investigations into the National Service Scandal were almost concluded and that I would return with a detailed update on the investigations and the decision of my Office regarding criminal charges against all persons suspected to have been involved in the looting of state resources. I am here today, my fellow countrymen and women, to announce that I have received the dockets compiled by diligent and hardworking investigators at the National Intelligence Bureau. The dockets were compiled under close supervision by my Office led by the Deputy Attorney General, Dr. Justice Srem Sai. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media In or around February 2022, the management of the National Service Authority announced the introduction of a digitalization system which they claimed had saved the country some One Hundred and Twelve Million Ghana Cedis (Ghs112m). Through an app known as the Metric App which allegedly combines facial recognition technology and identity card checks for verification and validation, the NSA had blocked the enrolment of some Fourteen Thousand and Twenty-Seven (14,027) potential fraudsters on to the scheme for the 2021-2022 service year. Despite these claims, when our current Minister of Finance, the Honourable Cassiel Ato Forson, ordered a head count of all national service personnel a s a precondition for the disbursement of arrears of allowances payable to the personnel dating back to August 2024, it was discovered that around Eighty-One Thousand Eight Hundred and Eighty-Five (81,885) were ghost names. Our investigations have revealed a sprawling criminal enterprise whose network covers the entire country. This criminal enterprise was run by top-level executives of the NSA and their accomplices in the private sector known as vendors or service providers. This criminal enterprise resulted in the siphoning of huge sums of public funds into private pockets. In total, we can confirm that a whopping Five Hundred and Forty-Eight Million Three Hundred and Thirty-Three Thousand Five Hundred and Forty-Two Ghana Cedis (Ghs548,333,542.65) has been lost to the state through this criminal enterprise. The breakdown is as follows: Service Year Amount Lost to NSP Ghost Names 2018/2019 Ghs 25,857,836.16 2019/2020 Ghs 21,613,962.24 2020/2021 Ghs 55,670,584.32 2021/2022 Ghs 61,383,025.74 2022/2023 Ghs 350,926,977.12 2023/2024 Ghs 32,881,157.07 6 Service Yrs Ghs 548,333,542.65 The criminal enterprise that resulted in the loss of this colossal sum of money to the state involved the creation of ghost names within the NSA payroll system by some directors and staff which they subsequently exploited to misappropriate state funds for their personal gain. This they did in direct collaboration with vendors and other accomplices. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media Our investigations revealed that, prior to the commencement of each new service year, the directors would submit to Parliament for approval a budget figure representing the number of prospective service personnel for that service year. Consistently, these figures were inflated by huge numbers. During the fiscal year, the directors would write to the Minister of Finance requesting permission to utilize excess funds allocated in the budget of the NSA. Once authorized, the directors would transfer the funds into the NSA's project account at the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) and under the pretext of executing their projects, would divert the funds into private pockets. Another criminal scheme hatched and exploited by the directors and staff is the deployment of ghost names on to the NSA system. Once deployed, the directors would then request that both ghost names and genuine names be transmitted by the Head of Accounts to the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GHIPSS) for payment. These payments included payments to E-Zwich cards procured for the fictitious national service personnel. Our investigations compared monthly data of verified national service personnel generated from the central management system and submitted to the NSA accounts office and the data of NSA personnel who were actually paid through the GHIPSS system for a period of six years (2018-2024). It was established that a total of Five Hundred and Eighty-Seven Thousand Five Hundred and Forty-Three (587,543) personnel were t o b e submitted t o GHIPSS for payment of allowances. Meanwhile, data from GHIPSS showed that a total of Six Hundred and Fifty Thousand One Hundred and Sixty-Five (650,165) personnel were paid, indicating that Sixty-Three Thousand Six Hundred and Seventy-Two (63,672) constituted ghost names. These consisted of the following categories of personnel: - NSPS who were blocked on the CMS during the registration process; - NSP numbers that exist in the payment records but do not exist on the CMS; - NSA volunteers; - NSA management/staff and market place vendors. My Fellow countrymen and women Our investigations additionally established that some of the ghost names were added to the lists submitted by the vendors, representing the number of service personnel to whom they had supplied items or provided loan facilities. When these vendors eventually received payments, the directors and staff would then contact the vendors whose accounts had received payments, meet with them, and collect the additional money that had been added to the vendors' payments. For instance, we have conclusively established that, after collecting these funds, some of the suspects, such as Gaisie, Nyarko, and Oteng handed them over to suspect Osei Assibey Antwi in cash and on some occasions deposited the cash into his bank account. Some directors, such as Gifty Oware-Mensah, created and executed a meticulously detailed plan, using NSP allowances as security to obtain a loan of thirty million six hundred and ninety-eight thousand, two hundred and eighteen cedis, sixty-nine pesewas (GH¢30,698,218.69) from the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) at an interest rate of twenty-three percent (23%). She achieved these results by using other people's information to register a company called Blocks of Life Consult without their knowledge or permission. Subsequently, she presented "BLOCKS OF LIFE CONSULT" through a middleman in the person of Maxwell Akwesi Ofori-Mintah to an official of the Agricultural Development Bank, enlisting her husband, Peter Mensah, a lawyer, to act as one of the directors/ representatives of the said company. She told ADB that the company specialised in supplying home appliances to National Service personnel and proposed that ADB finance the company to enable it to supply these items on hire purchase to the service personnel, with the NSA being responsible for handling the deductions and repayments. During that period suspect Gifty was the acting director of the Authority. However, on the marketplace of the Authority, there was no indication that "BLOCKS OF LIFE CONSULT" was a registered vendor. Within two service years (2022-2023 and 2023- 2024), suspect Gifty Oware- Mensah used a total of nine thousand, nine hundred and thirty-four (9,934) ghost names to misappropriate the aforementioned funds. Investigation further established that, after ADB transferred the funds into the account of the company, she subsequently transferred the funds into four different company accounts with the names as follows: AMEACOM, Scafold, OTCHEY, and Aristo Logistics and Trading. It was further established that suspect Gifty is a director of AMAECOM and Scaffold Company Limited belongs to suspect Abraham Gaisie. That, between 3 r d March 2023 and 24th May 2024, suspect Gifty transferred twenty-two million nine hundred and twenty-five thousand, five hundred and eighteen Ghana cedis and sixty-nine pesewas (Ghc 22,925,518.69) to AMAECOM, one million Ghana Cedis (GH¢1,000,000.00) to Scafold, one million, five hundred and seventy-two thousand seven hundred Ghana Cedis (GH¢1,572,700.00) to OTCHEY, and five million, two hundred thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢5,200,000.00) to Aristo Logistics and Trading. Investigation however established that Eric NYARKO (from 2017 until April 2024,) and Iddrisu IBN ABU-BAKR (April 2024 to December 2024) were responsible for preparing and transmitting NSP payroll data to GHIPPS for payment of allowances with the approval of the former NSA Director-Generals; Mustapha YUSSIF (2017- February 2021), Gifty Oware ABOAGYE (acting February, 2021-September, 2021) and Osei Assibey ANTWI (September, 2021 to January, 2025). Without their explicit authority nothing was possible. Furthermore, investigation revealed that national service volunteers received payments from funds intended for NSP allowances between 2018 and 2024. In the 2022/2023 service year, a total of eight million, two hundred and fifty-six thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢8,256,000.00) was deposited into EZWICH account number 1177042059, which is registered in the name of suspect Osei Assibey. Investigations showed that he personally received these funds. During a search at his residence, the aforementioned Ezwich card was found. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media: Investigation further revealed that another suspect, Haruna Mawulaya of Al-Fayda Ventures, a vendor, received a total payment of GH¢21,306,272.43 into his account from 2017 to 2024. Suspect Rose Hamilton, of Marine Ventures, received a total payment of GH¢50,754,923.15 into her account from 2017 to 2024. Suspect Isaac Asamani, of Option Buy Ventures, received a total payment of GH¢11,458,686.90 into his account from 2017 to 2024. A total payment of GH¢167,554,398.54 was made into the account from of a savings and loan entity between 2019 and 2024. Suspect Sylvia Ntriwa Opare of Sylsona Ventures, received a total payment of GH¢10,746,634.41 into her account from 2021 to 2024. Suspect Jacob Yawson, of Nyansapo Ventures, received a total payment of GH¢19,199,638.57 into his account from 2021 to 2024, suspects Philomina Arthur and Stephen Kwabena Gyamfi, of brainwave Ventures, received a total payment of GH¢17,646,523.80 into their account from 2021 to 2024. Suspect Solomon Damena, of Alfarita Ventures, received a total payment of GH¢8,236,019.67 into his account from 2021 to 2024. Suspect Charles Ohemeng, of CH OHEC Ventures, received a total payment of GH¢14,235,118.14 into his account from 2022 to 2024. Suspects Kwaku Opare Agbofa and Prince Agbofa Awuku, of Fralisa Ventures, received a total payment of GH¢9,011,164.35 into their accounts from 2023 to 2024. However, none of the aforementioned vendors provided evidence to prove that the amounts of money they received corresponded to the items supplied or loans supposedly made to National Service Personnel. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media and my fellow countrymen and women: Having concluded our investigations, we will be filing charges against twelve suspects who worked as directors and staff of the NSA. These are Mustafa Yussif, a former executive director, Osei Assibey Antwi, former Director General, Gifty Oware-Mensah former deputy executive director, Kweku Ohene Gyan, former deputy executive director for operations, Abraham Bismark Gaisie, head of deployment, Eric Nyarko, former head of accounts, Albert Oteng Owusu, former internal auditor, Kweku Dekyi Agyei, an accounts officer, Iddrisu Ibn Abu-Bakr, former head of accounts, Stephen Kwabena Gyamfi, Koforidua Municipal Director, Prince Agbofa Awuku, a district director a n d Jacob Yawson, Management Information Systems Administrator in the Northern Regional Office. We will file charges against the following persons who are vendors on the marketplace on the Central Management System of the NSA in the Eastern, Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions: ISAAC OSAE ASAMANI, the owner of Stalwart/Option Buy ventures. CHARLES OHEMENG , the owner of CH OHEC ventures. PHILOMINA ARTHUR , the owner of Brainwave ventures. ROSE HAMILTON , the owner of Marine ventures. KWAKU OPARE AGBOFA , the owner of Franlisa ventures. SOLOMON DWAMENA , the owner of Alfarita ventures. HARUNA MAWULAYA , the owner of Alfayda Enterprise. SYLVIA NTRIWA OPARE , the owner of Sylsona ventures, are all PETER MENSAH , a legal practitioner and the husband of Gifty Oware-Mensah. We have made the decision to enter into non-prosecution agreements (NPAs). With certain vendors who have agreed to provide compelling testimonies as witnesses for the prosecution. In this regard, we have agreed not to disclose their names in this press briefing. Having provided this factual background, our position is clear that these persons are reasonably suspected to have committed crimes and shall be charged accordingly with the following crimes: Stealing, contrary to section 124(1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, (Act 29) Conspiracy to steal contrary to sections 23(1) and 124(1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, (Act 29) Willfully Causing Financial Loss to the State, contrary to section 179A(3)(a) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, (Act 29) Using Public Office for Profit contrary to section 179C(a) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, (Act 29) Obtaining public property by false statements, contrary to Section 5 of the Public Property Protection Act, 1977 (SMCD 140). Money laundering contrary to Section 1(2) (c) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2020 (Act 1044). Conspiracy to commit money laundering contrary to Section 3 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2020 (Act 1044). Conclusion As part of the ORAL agenda, I have ordered that a comprehensive investigation of the assets owned by these persons be conducted. That investigation is ongoing, and we shall be pursuing the suspects to retrieve funds attributable to them and assets they have acquired using those funds. I thank you all once again for covering this press briefing.