The High Court in Accra has amended the bail conditions of former Executive Director of the National Service Authority, Osei Assibey Antwi, permitting him to report to the Kumasi office of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) rather than making the trip to Accra, a concession his legal team had sought and the state did not resist.
The development came during court proceedings on Monday, where the defense applied for a variation of the bail terms alongside a request for additional time to review case materials. Prosecutors informed the court that 49 documents had already been disclosed to the defense, with further disclosures still to come. The defense, citing the need to thoroughly examine the materials, requested a one-month adjournment. The presiding judge granted both applications, adjourning the case to May 13.
Mr. Antwi faces serious charges, including stealing, money laundering, and causing financial loss to the state, all stemming from his tenure at the National Service Authority. But beyond the bail amendment, Monday’s proceedings also shed light on significant revisions to the charges themselves.
The principal allegation of causing financial loss to the state has been amended in two notable ways. Originally, prosecutors alleged that Mr. Antwi authorised payments totalling GH¢500,861,744.02 to more than 60,000 purported “ghost” national service personnel. The amended charge tells a somewhat different story, reducing the alleged financial loss to GH¢431,761,556.76 and replacing the reference to “ghost names” with the broader description of “non-service personnel and unverified individuals.”
Investigations by the National Intelligence Bureau paint a troubling picture of what allegedly transpired at the Authority over several years. Findings reportedly indicate that 63,672 unverified registrants were submitted into the payment system between 2018 and 2024 for service allowances or vendor payments.
Between August 2021 and February 2025, the Authority is alleged to have disbursed GH¢431,761,556.76 to individuals who either did not undertake national service or whose identities could not be verified, a staggering sum at the centre of what has become one of Ghana’s most closely watched public sector fraud cases.
The case returns to court on May 13.
Source: Apexnewsgh.com