Lawyers of the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Food and Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO), Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba, have filed an. Application at the High Court seeking to dismiss the entire charges against their client.
The defence describes the charges as “being fatally defective and in contravention of his right to fair trial.”
On Wednesday, July 15, 2026, lead counsel for the first accused, former Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame, informed the court that they had filed an application to strike out the entire charges levelled against their client on July 14.
“We have filed an application to strike out the entire charges preferred against the first accused as being fatally defective and in contravention of his right to a fair trial,” Dame said of the application filed on Tuesday July 14, 2026.
Counsel for the second accused, Faiza Abdul-Wahab Aludiba, Augustine Obuor, said he had not been served with the application.
In response, Principal State Attorney Esi Dentaa Yankah said the prosecution was not aware of the application, noting that it had just been filed.
She argued that it should not hold back proceedings.
“It is our submission that this is not an application that should hold back the proceedings in this case,” she said.
Ms. Yankah argued that the court has presided over the case from its inception, with the accused persons arraigned, the charges read, pleas taken and Case Management Conference commenced.
She noted that the accused had subjected himself to the Case Management Conference, during which numerous documents were disclosed.
“Our submission is that until this motion is heard, there is nothing before the court and on the court record that shows any cause to invalidate any of these proceedings at any point until today and only after two separate requests for the trial to commence today have been truncated and refused,” she argued.
The PSA added that the issue was being raised only now, and that there would be no injustice if the case was heard and the first prosecution witness commenced his testimony as scheduled.
She cited Section 176 of Act 30, which gives the court power to make orders, and submitted that the prosecution was ready to proceed.
“We are able to proceed today, the motion can be heard on its appointed date for what it is worth, but that should not prevent the calling of PW1 to commence his testimony as this was the scheduled business of the day,” Ms. Yankah said.
By Court:
Justice Francis Apangabonu Achibonga, in his ruling, held that the application strikes at the foundation of the trial.
“The defence has filed a motion to strike out the charges which is the basis for this trial. It therefore means that should the application succeed, there will not be any trial based on the said charge sheet,” the judge noted.
“In my view, it will be prejudicial to the outcome if the trial is made to proceed. We shall adjourn to await the outcome of the motion.”
The case was subsequently adjourned to July 20, 2026, for the motion to strike out the charge sheet to be heard.
Background
The Former NAFCO CEO, Abdul-Wahab Aludiba, and his wife, Faiza Seidu Wuni, have pleaded not guilty to a combined 20 counts charges on May 18, 2026, over alleged financial improprieties involving state funds.
Their pleas were taken on Monday, May 18, 2026, on the new charge sheet filed by the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice on May 15, 2026, 13 days after they were previously discharged following the AG’s withdrawal on May 5.
The new charge sheet, which leveled 20 counts against the couple, comprised three counts of defrauding by false pretence, four counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the Republic, and four counts of stealing, contrary to Section 124(1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).
The rest are four counts of using public office for profit, one count of dishonestly receiving, two counts each of money laundering and intentional misapplication of public funds, contrary to Section 1(2) of the Public Property Protection Decree, 1977 (SMCD 140).
On Monday, May 18, 2026, after their pleas were taken, Deputy Attorney General Dr. Justice Srem-Sai read the facts in court.
He stated, among other things, that the former NAFCO boss fraudulently obtained GH¢734,400, the cedi equivalent of US$127,500, from NAFCO in 2017 under the pretext of rent payments purportedly covering the period between May 2017 and May 2019.
Per the charge sheet, Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba is the first accused, while his wife, Faiza Seidu Wuni, is the second accused.
While Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba was represented by Deputy Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame, the wife was represented by Alex Nartey, who was holding Augustines Obuor’s brief for the second accused.
Brief facts
Per the brief facts, the National Food and Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) is a national strategic food security agency. It buys and stores foodstuff for public use.
It was incorporated in the year 2010 as a limited liability company. The Government is its sole shareholder.
It said that in the year 2017, the Government tasked NAFCO to buy, store, and supply foodstuff to the national school feeding component of the Free Senior High School program.
“The feeding of school kids, thus, largely depends on how NAFCO funds are spent,” the document stated.
The brief stated that the 1st Accused Person (A1), 39 years old, is a native of Pusiga in the Upper East Region. He was the Chief Executive Officer of NAFCO.
It said the first accused occupied that office from the year 2017 to the year 2025. A1 was, thus, responsible for the day-to-day running of NAFCO and the special task of supplying foodstuff to the school feeding program.
This, it said, also means that the feeding of school kids largely depends on how A1 spends NAFCO’s funds. If he spent judiciously, school kids would be fed. If he did not, they starved.
“Sometime in 2017, just when he assumed office as NAFCO CEO, A1 requested from NAFCO for himself the payment of a rent allowance.
“He submitted to NAFCO a rent claim of the sum of seven hundred and thirty-four thousand and four hundred Ghana cedis only (GH¢734,400.00), the same being the Ghana cedi equivalent of one hundred and twenty-seven thousand and five hundred United States dollars only (US$127,500.00),” the facts stated.
“The property which A1 named for the rent was Plot 2.51, Cayman, within the Chain Homes Estate in Tse-Addo, Accra. NAFCO paid. However, for the two years that A1 received the said rent, he never lived in Plot 2.51, Cayman.
“He lived elsewhere. In fact, Plot 2.51, Cayman was not built until three years after he received the rent – the year 2020. Investigations reveal that the documentation which A1 submitted to NAFCO in support of his rent claim was not genuine,” it added.
NAFCO Account
It said NAFCO has bank accounts with the Agricultural Development Bank, Ecobank Ghana, and the National Investment Bank.
“It would later, under the auspices of A1 (and for reasons which will be clear in this trial), open a new bank account with the Republic Bank, at the Labone branch,” it said.
“A1 (as CEO) and one RICHARD SAM-ASANTE (as Head of Finance) were, at all material times, the signatories to NAFCO’s bank accounts.
Besides being the CEO of NAFCO, A1 is also a sole proprietor of private business enterprises, most of which he started after becoming CEO of NAFCO. One of such business enterprises is the one he registered under the name and style of ALUDIBA ENTERPRISE.
Aludiba Foundation
Also, A1 had another company, The Aludiba Foundation. THE ALUDIBA FOUNDATION is a friendly society (a non-governmental organisation). It was incorporated on June 19, 2019.
A1, together with two other persons, are THE ALUDIBA FOUNDATION’s Executive Council members. Further, A1 and his wife, A2, jointly own another company – FA-HAUSA COMPANY LIMITED.
This company was registered as a limited liability company on September 23, 2020. A1 owns another company, ENERGY PARTNERS LIMITED.
It said this company was incorporated under the laws of Ghana on June 21, 2021, as a limited liability company. Its incorporation records disclose “oil and gas supplies, steel construction, development services, logistics, freight forwarding, transportation, project engineering, management offshore sourcing, and bulk fuel lifting and distribution” as its objects.
It said A1 owns 80% of ENERGY PARTNERS LIMITED’s shares and is, thereby, its controlling shareholder and director.
The 2nd Accused Person (A2), a native of Bawku, is A1’s wife.
A2 is a proprietor of many businesses. She became a proprietor of these businesses only immediately after A1, her husband, was appointed CEO of NAFCO.
A2’s enterprises include the one she conducts as a sole proprietorship under the names and styles of ALOARNI ENTERPRISE. A2 registered this business name on July 10, 2018.
A2’s other business is FA-HAUSA VENTURES. FA-HAUSA VENTURES was registered on December 19, 2019.
JAMES TIEKU-APAWU, who will testify for the prosecution in this trial, is a Regional Manager of NAFCO. He is responsible for NAFCO’s affairs in the Northern, the Savannah, and the North-East regions.
JAMES TIEKU-APAWU, too, is a sole proprietor of businesses. In respect of one such business, he trades under the registered name and style of SAWTINA ENTERPRISE (SAWTINA).
In the year 2025, the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) of the Attorney-General received information that A1 had, over the eight years that he was the CEO of NAFCO, embezzled hundreds of millions of Ghana cedis from NAFCO.
Other tipoffs also indicated that A1 had applied the embezzled monies to acquire vast estates and businesses across the country and elsewhere, and was living an extravagant life.
EOCO’s preliminary investigations revealed that about 70 million Ghana cedis had moved from NAFCO’s bank accounts to SAWTINA.
Further investigations reveal that these funds were transferred in a series of eighty-six (86) transactions between October 2019 and September 2023.
The transfers were made from NAFCO into SAWTINA’s bank accounts with Ecobank and Republic Bank, Labone branch.
It is important to note that A1 maintains several personal bank accounts with the Labone branch of the Republic Bank, with the same bank relationship officer managing all the accounts.
The relationship officer will testify for the prosecution in this trial.
Subsequent investigations revealed that, sometime in 2019, JAMES TIEKU-APAWU approached A1 and informed him of his desire to buy and supply foodstuff to NAFCO. A1 agreed. By NAFCO regulations, it is only a licensed buying company that could supply foodstuff to NAFCO.
So, A1 had JAMES TIEKU-APAWU’s business – SAWTINA – quickly approved as a licensed buying company. Investigations reveal that JAMES TIEKU-APAWU immediately started trading with NAFCO.
In a series of police investigative caution interviews, JAMES TIEKU-APAWU admitted receiving a total of about seventy-eight million, two hundred and sixty-nine thousand, eighty-two Ghana cedis and 4 pesewas (GH¢78,269,082.04) from NAFCO into SAWTINA’s bank account.
He, however, explained that only about 20% of that amount was for genuine foodstuff supplies he made to NAFCO. EOCO’s investigations reveal that the remaining 80% of the bank transfers were for no supplies at all.
Investigations have established that more than fifty million Ghana cedis was transferred from SAWTINA’s bank account back to A1 directly, to his other businesses, to his wife’s (A2) businesses, and for the acquisition of landed properties in prime areas in Accra and elsewhere.
The cheques for the transfers from NAFCO were signed by A1 (as CEO of NAFCO) and RICHARD SAM-ASANTE (as Head of Finance at NAFCO).
Investigations discovered, too, that a total sum of five million, four hundred and ninety-five thousand, seven hundred and forty-eight Ghana cedis, and thirty-six pesewas (GH¢5,495,748.36) was paid from NAFCO funds to ALUDIBA ENTERPRISE between February 2017 and February 2019. Further investigations have established that ALUDIBA ENTERPRISE is not a NAFCO licensed buying company and has never traded or dealt with NAFCO.
A1 is the sole proprietor of ALUDIBA ENTERPRISE and trades under that name and style.
Again, in July 2022, A1 authorised a NAFCO transfer of an amount of two hundred and fifty-one thousand and fifty cedis only (GH¢251,050.00) into a bank account at the Labone branch of the Republic Bank.
The bank account belongs to ENERGY PARTNERS LIMITED. Investigations have established that ENERGY PARTNERS LIMITED never rendered any services or supplied any goods to NAFCO.
Additionally, investigations have established that A1 caused to be paid from NAFCO’s funds an amount of about four million, four hundred and one thousand, eight hundred and thirty-one Ghana cedis and fifty-eight pesewas (GH¢4,401,831.58) to ALQARNI ENTERPRISE.
A1 made this payment under the description that ALQARNI ENTERPRISE had supplied foodstuff to NAFCO. Investigations, however, revealed that ALQARNI ENTERPRISE supplied far less foodstuff to NAFCO than A1 had NAFCO pay to ALQARNI ENTERPRISE for.
ALQARNI ENTERPRISE was not even a licensed buyer for NAFCO. As a matter of fact, ALQARNI ENTERPRISE is the personal trading name and style of A2, A1’s wife.
Also, investigations have revealed that from February 2020 to November 2022, A1 made several money deposits into the bank account of FA-HAUSA VENTURES. The sum of these deposits is thirteen million, two hundred and thirteen thousand, five hundred and one Ghana cedis, and fifty-two pesewas (GH¢13,213,501.52).
In fact, FA-HAUSA VENTURES is the name and style under which A2 trades. Investigations into the bank transactions of FA-HAUSA VENTURES reveal that A1, though not formally a partner in FA-HAUSA VENTURES, is a signatory to FA-HAUSA VENTURES’s bank account at the Republic Bank, Labone branch.
Further investigations into these deposits have established the sources of these monies, namely, from NAFCO through the bank account of SAWTINA.
Subsequent investigations have established that the monies which A1, A2, and their associates deposited into FA-HAUSA VENTURES’ bank account were used by A1 and A2 to purchase properties in prime areas in Accra, Tamale, and elsewhere.
Investigations have also established that a significant amount of the monies in FA-HAUSA VENTURES’s bank account – in excess of GH¢161,459,987.27 – were invested by A1 and A2 in money instruments and other securities and investment products for their personal use and benefit. Investigations have also established that monies were transferred from ALQARNI ENTERPRISE to THE ALUDIBA FOUNDATION for the use and benefit of A1 and A2.
Following these preliminary investigative findings, EOCO investigators, on June 25, 2025, arrested A1 and other suspects. The other suspects were simultaneously arrested in Tamale and elsewhere.
Source: www.kumasimail.com
