Former NSA boss Osei Assibey Antwi has pleaded not guilty to 21 fresh charges over the National Service Ghost Names scandal.
The new charges include wilfully causing financial loss to the Republic in the sum of over GH¢431.8M over NSS following amended charges.
Prior to the amended charge sheet, he had pleaded not guilty to 14 counts and had been granted bail.
The 21 counts comprise six counts of causing financial loss, nine counts of stealing, money laundering, and five counts of improper payment of public funds.
In October, the former NSA boss pleaded not guilty to 14 charges, but following the conclusion of the Auditor-General’s report on National Service, the State amended the charge sheet, increasing the counts by seven more counts from 14 to 21.
The Court, presided over by Justice Kizita Naa Koowa Quarshie, had ordered him to remain on his previous bail conditions granted in December.
Prosecution, led by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mrs Yvonne Attakora Obuobisa, did not oppose the grant of bail advanced by his lawyers, led by Ralph Opoku Adusei.
The Prosecution has been directed to file disclosures and witness statements, while the case was adjourned to April 13 for Case Management Conference (CMC).
EIB Network’s Legal Affairs Correspondent, Murtala Inusah, reports that the accused has satisfied his bail conditions.
Brief Facts
The National Service Authority (NSA) is an establishment under the Ministry of Education mandated to deploy service personnel drawn primarily from tertiary institutions in Ghana to various sectors under the National Service Authority Act, 2024 (Act 1119).
The accused person, Osei Assibey Antwi, is a former Deputy Regional Minister of the Ashanti Region, former Chief Executive Officer of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, and former Executive Director at the NSA.
The accused person was appointed NSA Executive Director in September 2021 and vacated office in January 2025.
As the Executive Director of the NSA and administrative head, he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Authority.
The facts state that he was the principal spending officer of the Authority and a signatory to its accounts, with ultimate responsibility for authorizing and submitting lists of National Service Personnel (NSP) to the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems Limited (GhIPSS) for payment of allowances.
Budget Allocation
Every year, the NSA submits to Parliament an estimated number of NSP expected to be deployed by the Authority, and based on the estimate, Parliament approves a budget allocation for payment of NSP allowances.
The allocation is made under the NSA Transit Account with the Bank of Ghana (Control Account), and transfers from the Control Account are executed by GhIPSS.
Apart from the Control Account, the NSA has five other accounts with the Bank of Ghana (BoG), including a Project Account numbered 1018631542212.
Transfers from the NSA Control Account to any of the other accounts require prior approval from the Minister for Finance, as the monies are allocated solely for payment of allowances.
Additionally, the NSA held an account numbered 1010112563901 with Agricultural Development Bank PLC (ADB).
The NSA registration is made up of two main types: General and Limited. General Registration is for all registrants who completed their schooling during the service year.
“Limited Registration is for persons who, due to absence from Ghana, medical reasons, etc., are unable to register for service in the same year they completed school.”
Workplace Platform
The NSA has a ‘marketplace’ platform on which NSP can access various services on credit. On the platform, NSP can purchase goods on hire-purchase and get loans from companies/enterprises called ‘marketplace vendors’.
The NSP pay for their hire-purchased goods and repay their loans with deductions from their monthly allowance. Every month, the NSA prepares a list of validated NSP and submits it to GhIPSS for direct payments into the NSP e-zwich accounts.
The lists indicate the NSP number, the e-zwich card number, and allowance due to the personnel, minus any sum owed to a vendor. In addition, the NSA submits a list of vendors to GhIPSS for payment, per the deductions from NSP.
The vendor list will indicate the name of the vendor, the vendor’s e-zwich card number, and the amount due to the vendor.
Ghost Names Investigation
In February 2025, based on intelligence gathered, the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) commenced investigations into alleged acts of registration of non-NSP, stealing, corruption, and money laundering, perpetrated by NSA directors, staff, and marketplace vendors.
The NIB obtained and analyzed payment data from the NSA’s Control Account and the e-zwich statement of payments from GhIPSS from 2018 to 2024. Investigations revealed that from 2018 to 2024, about 63,672 unverified registrants were submitted to GhIPPS for either payment of allowances or for payment of vendors.
It came to light that between August 2021 and February 2025, a sum of Four Hundred and Thirty-One Million, Seven Hundred and Sixty-One Thousand, Five Hundred and Fifty-Six Cedis and Seventy-Six Pesewas (Gh¢431,761,556.76) was paid as allowances to unverified registrants and to persons who had done no national service work.
The said payments were authorized by the accused person as Director of NSA. Vendors who were interrogated by the NIB confirmed that they received payments from GhIPSS when they had not rendered services to NSP.
They further indicated that they refunded monies, not to the NSA, but to the accused person in cash. Investigations also revealed that in 2022, the accused person acquired an e-zwich card numbered 1177042059 linked to the NSA’s ADB account.
The said e-zwich card was in the name of the accused, and it was registered using his biometrics.
The accused person’s e-zwich card was submitted to GhIPSS, and from 2022 to 2024, he received a sum of Eight Million, Two Hundred and Fifty-Six Thousand Ghana Cedis (Gh¢8,256,000.00), being monies allocated for NSP allowances.
The accused person deliberately did not disclose the existence of the e-zwich card to his successor when he presented his handing-over report.
Denial upon Arrest:
Upon his arrest and during interrogation, the accused denied the existence of any e-zwich card in his name. However, on March 25, 2025, the NIB conducted a search at the accused’s house at Dome and found the e-zwich card in his bedside drawer. The search was conducted in the presence of the accused and his lawyer.
Further checks conducted at ADB revealed that the accused had personally withdrawn monies from the said e-zwich card. Further investigations revealed that the accused person authorized the payment of Seven Million, Seven Hundred and Four Thousand, Eight Hundred and Eighty Ghana Cedis and Ninety-Two Pesewas (Gh¢7,704,880.92) to Direct Savings and Loans (DSL) for no vendor services rendered.
The accused person thereafter demanded and received a refund of the sum from DSL in cash. Further investigations revealed that between August 2022 and June 2024, under the authorization of the accused, a sum of One Hundred and Six Million Ghana Cedis (Gh¢106,000,000.00) was transferred from the NSA Control Account to the Project Account (1018631542212) for the Kumawu Farm Project.
Various contracts were entered into by the accused person as Director of the NSA for services, including clearing farmlands and developing an irrigation system.
“Although contractors were paid, the NSA did not obtain value for the monies expended on the Farm Project contracts, leading to a loss of approximately Sixty-one Million, Two Hundred and Eighty-nine Thousand and Eight Hundred and Forty-Three Ghana Cedis and Thirty Pesewas (Gh¢61,289,843.30) to the Republic.
Based on the above facts, the accused person has been arraigned before this Honourable Court for trial.
Source: www.kumasimail.com
