The Attorney General, Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, has provided a breakdown of the mode of operation by top officials and staff at the National Security Authority in “stealing” over GH¢548 million from state funds.
According to him, top officials of the authority run a criminal enterprise, including private sector players known as vendors or service providers.
The AG noted that this “criminal enterprise” resulted in the siphoning of huge sums of public funds into private pockets.
Addressing the media on June 13, 2025, he said, “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 (GH¢548,333,542.65) has been lost to the state through this criminal enterprise.”
Deployment of ghost names
Elaborating, Ayine said another criminal scheme hatched and exploited by the directors and staff is the deployment of ghost names onto the NSA system.
Once deployed, he said the directors would then request that the Head of Accounts transmit both ghost names and genuine names 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 to be submitted to GHIPSS for payment of allowances,” he said.
The AG said the 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:
1. NSPs who were blocked on the CMS during the registration process;
2. NSP numbers that exist in the payment records but do not exist on the CMS;
3. NSA volunteers;
4. NSA management/staff and marketplace vendors.
Additionally, the AG said ongoing investigations revealed 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.
“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%),” the AG said.
Modus operandi
According to the AG, the former Director, Gifty Oware-Mensah, 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 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 that Scaffold Company Limited belongs to suspect Abraham Gaisie.
That, between March 3, 2023, and May 24, 2024, suspect Gifty transferred twenty-two million nine hundred and twenty-five thousand, five hundred and eighteen Ghana cedis and sixty-nine pesewas (GH¢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-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,” Ayine said.
Furthermore, the 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 the suspect Osei
Assibey.
Investigations showed that he personally received these funds. During a search at his residence, the aforementioned Ezwich card was found.
The 22 suspects and how much they “stole”
Investigation further revealed that another suspect, Haruna Mawulaya, of AlFayda 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 Dwamena, 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,” the AG said.
The Attorney General noted charges will be filed 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; and Jacob Yawson,
Management Information Systems Administrator in the Northern Regional
Office.
SSD/AE