Hanan Abdul-Wahab, (right), Raymond Archer
More than 24 hours after the re-arrest of former Chief Executive Officer of National Food and Buffer Stock Company Limited (NAFCO), Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba, and his wife, Faiza Seidu Wuni, the couple were denied access to their lawyers despite sustained efforts by their legal team.
Lawyers from Dame & Partners had made strenuous efforts to access the couple at the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) yesterday after they were rearrested moments after the Attorney General withdrew all charges against them and three others.
Former Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame told JoyNews yesterday that the couple “have been denied access to counsel. Junior colleagues of mine who are at EOCO say that as of about 11 o’clock, they have not been given access to them. They have not been allowed to see their client.”
As at 4:30 p.m., Mr. Dame told DAILY GUIDE that his clients were still in EOCO custody with no access to lawyers, more than 30 hours after their arrest.
He earlier indicated that Mr. Abdul-Wahab had fallen ill during the process and was rushed to a hospital for medical attention before being returned to the custody of EOCO.
“He is still in the custody of EOCO at the EOCO office. He has not been given access to his lawyers,” Mr. Dame said.
The former Attorney General bemoaned the development, describing it as an unhealthy practice.
“If the Republic has a genuine case against a person, they ought to abide by due process and bring the person before court with all the rights guaranteed under the Constitution of Ghana, and let the case proceed,” Mr. Dame added.
Discharge
The Attorney General, on Tuesday, May 5, 2026, withdrew all charges against Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba, his wife, Faiza Seidu Wuni and three others.
The withdrawal came less than a week after the trial court struck out two new witness statements filed by the Office of the Attorney General without leave of the court.
The court had held that the two witness statements which sought to replace existing ones should have been filed with the leave of the court, as per the practice direction on disclosures in criminal trials, given the fact that the prosecution had concluded its case management.
The couple were subsequently discharged by the court but that reprieve was short, as they were immediately rearrested on the corridor by officers from Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) and Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and taken into custody.
Former Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, who is counsel for Abdul-Wahab, said irrespective of the number of times the accused are rearrested, they would be freed as many times, stating, “they can be arrested 10 times, they will be freed 10 times.”
The couple, together with Richard Sam-Asante, who is said to be on the run; the Ludiba Foundation and Energy Partners Limited, two companies related to the couple, were charged by the Attorney General for allegedly stealing money from the state through a criminal enterprise.
The five were facing 24 counts of charges of stealing, fraudulently causing financial loss to the state, abetment of stealing, money laundering, defrauding by false pretences, intentional dissipation of public funds, using public office for profit, dishonestly receiving and intentionally causing financial loss to the state.
Deputy Attorney General, Dr. Justice Srem-Sai, told the court on Tuesday that the Attorney General wished to withdraw all the charges against the accused persons.
Although he did not give any reason for the decision, he later posted on Facebook that it was due to the discovery of some new evidence.
Justice Francis Achibonga, in a short ruling, pointed out that the Attorney General has the prerogative to initiate, continue or truncate a criminal trial.
“Having informed the court that the state withdraws all charges against the accused persons, the prayer has been granted and all charges against the accused persons are hereby struck out. The accused persons are discharged,” he added.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak
