Osei Assibey Antwi
The Attorney General (AG) has filed more disclosures and witness statements in the trial of former Executive Director of the National Service Authority (NSA), Osei Assibey Antwi, who is standing trial for criminal offences, including stealing and money laundering.
Director of Public Prosecution, Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, on Monday told the court that the prosecution had filed additional disclosures, adding that they still had a few more to file ahead of the court conducting a case management conference.
She, therefore, prayed the court for an adjournment for case management, adding that the defence would be served with the remaining disclosures at least one week before the said day.
Ralph Poku-Adusei, counsel for Osei Assibey, was about to raise an issue about the turn of event, but the trial judge, Justice Kizita Quarshie, indicated that the prosecution had already informed the court about the bulky nature of the disclosures they would be making, so it was likely that they were not going to be able to file all of them before Monday’s proceeding.
That notwithstanding, the defence lawyer insisted that the prosecution is not ready to proceed with the case, adding that “We hope and pray that they can deliver on their promise.”
Justice Quarshie adjourned the case to June 29 for case management.
Meanwhile, counsel for Osei Assibey has filed an application seeking the court to order the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) to defreeze the accused person’s accounts.
He had previously made an oral application for the court to defreeze Osei Assibey as well as his daughter’s bank accounts.
The court directed him to file an application so that the Office of the Attorney General can respond appropriately.
On that day, Mr. Poku-Adusei prayed the court to lift the restraint placed on the accused, including the freezing of his bank account and that of his daughter in the course of investigations.
He emphasised the need to defreeze the accused person’s daughter’s bank account, which he said is not connected to the case, neither is she an accused in the case.
“We will, therefore, submit that you graciously, and we also humble ourselves before you that you make orders to defreeze the accused person’s account or at the very least the daughter’s account while we wait whenever the prosecution is ready to file their documents for this case to proceed,” Mr. Poku-Adusei added.
Justice Kizita Naa Quarshie turned down the request to defreeze the accounts and asked the defence lawyer to “come formally” by way of an application.
Trial
Mr. Assibey Antwi has been accused of stealing from the state during his tenure at the NSA as well as causing financial loss to the state, all totalling GH¢509,012,281 between August 2021 and February 2025.
He was first put before the court in October 2025, where he pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The Attorney General later amended the charges in March 2026 following the conclusion of an audit into the accounts of the NSA.
The court had since slated the case for disclosures to enable it conduct case management which will pave way for the trial to commence.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak