By Prince Ahenkorah
The legal net is tightening around Osei Assibey Antwi, the former boss of the National Service Authority (NSA), as state prosecutors sharpen their case in what is becoming one of the most sprawling public sector fraud inquiries in recent memory.
The ex-director has pleaded not guilty to an expanded 21-count charge sheet, now amended to include allegations of willfully causing a financial loss to the state to the tune of over GH¢431.8 million .
The updated indictment, filed this year, represents a significant escalation from the original 14 counts. It layers six counts of causing financial loss alongside nine charges of stealing and money laundering, and five counts of improper payment of public funds.
The revision follows the conclusion of a detailed Auditor-General’s report on the National Service Scheme, a probe that has lifted the lid on systemic malfeasance .
Prosecutors have refined their central argument. Initially, the state alleged that Assibey Antwi authorised a staggering GH¢500.8 million in payments to over 60,000 ghost personnel.
The amended figures now pin the loss at GH¢431.7 million, but the language is more precise: the funds were disbursed to “non-service personnel and unverified individuals” rather than the spectres of “ghost names” originally cited. This semantic shift points to a deeper rot in the verification protocols .
The most damaging particulars concern a direct pipeline of cash to the accused. Between 2022 and 2024, an e-zwich card registered in Assibey Antwi’s name allegedly absorbed GH¢8.2 million meant for service personnel allowances.
Investigators from the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) claim the former director personally withdrew the funds. Crucially, he failed to declare the card during his official handover and initially denied its existence under interrogation. It was only recovered during a search of his Dome residence on 25 March last year .
Further counts delve into the Sekyere-Kumawu Economic Enclave (Farm) Project, a scheme that has all the hallmarks of a classic procurement fiasco.
The prosecution argues that GH¢106 million was funnelled from the NSA Control Account for land clearing and irrigation development between August 2022 and June 2024. The output, however, bore no relation to the input. Investigators estimate a loss of GH¢61.3 million on contracts that delivered negligible value for money .
At the heart of the scandal lies a breakdown in the most basic of bureaucratic checks. Assibey Antwi, who ran the Authority from September 2021 to January 2025, was the principal spending officer and a signatory to NSA accounts.
In this capacity, he authorised personnel lists submitted to the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) for monthly allowance payments.
Yet, an NIB trawl through data from 2018 to 2024 uncovered that 63,672 unverified registrants had been fed into the payment system.
The discovery, made in February last year, triggered the initial investigation. It revealed a system where the distinction between legitimate service personnel and phantom claimants had been allowed to blur wilfully or otherwise.
In court, presided over by Justice Kizita Naa Koowa Quarshie, the former NSA boss saw his previous bail conditions maintained. Director of Public Prosecutions Yvonne Attakora Obuobisa did not oppose the application, advanced by his lawyer Ralph Opoku Adusei. The case now moves to a Case Management Conference on 13 April, where the state is expected to file disclosures and witness statements.
For the Treasury, still grappling with a weak fiscal environment, the pursuit of every missing cedi is no longer just about justice it is about deterrence .