Hot SourceThe Attorney-General, Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, may need to offer a convincing explanation over the alleged “stealing” that took place at the National Service Authority (NSA), after the number of suspects he initially announced as 12 has now been reduced to two: Osei Assibey Antwi and his deputy, Gifty Oware-Mensah.
On Friday, 13 June 2025, Dr Ayine named former Sports Minister Mustapha Ussif among 12 individuals allegedly involved in a massive corruption scandal at the National Service Scheme (NSS), stating that those implicated would face prosecution.
However, last Monday, only two individuals, Osei Assibey Antwi and Gifty Oware-Mensah, were charged before the court. Mr Assibey Antwi faces 14 counts, including causing financial loss to the Republic, stealing, and money laundering, in a case involving more than GH¢600 million. His deputy, Mrs Oware-Mensah, has also been charged with theft and wilfully causing financial loss to the state amounting to over GH¢38 million.
At his 13 June press conference, Dr Ayine announced that 12 individuals, including senior former officials of the NSA, were to face prosecution over their alleged involvement in a GH¢548 million “ghost names” scandal uncovered between 2018 and 2024.
He explained that the move followed extensive investigations under the government’s anti-corruption initiative, Operation Recover All Loots (ORAL).
Shortly afterwards, former Minister of Sports and ex-Executive Director of the NSS, Mustapha Ussif, denied any wrongdoing during his tenure from 2017 to 2021.
In a statement, Mr Ussif, who also serves as Member of Parliament for the Yagaba Kubore Constituency, declared his innocence, stating that he was ready to account for his tenure, having served in public life with “diligence and honesty.”
“My attention has been drawn to a press conference by the Attorney-General, held on 13 June 2025, and I wish to categorically deny any alleged wrongdoing,” he said.
“That said, it is my fervent belief that once you hold public office, you should at all material times, and at whatever cost, be ready, willing, and able to account for your stewardship. Therefore, I wish to state that I am ready, willing, and able to account for my stewardship at the National Service Scheme (NSS) from February 2017 to 6 January 2021.”
“Consequently, I welcome any opportunity to do so, including but not limited to having my day in a court of competent jurisdiction.
“I therefore urge all well-wishers, friends, family, constituents, members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the general public to be calm, knowing very well that I have, throughout my public life, served with diligence and honesty,” the statement concluded.
It remains unclear whether investigators and the Attorney-General have been satisfied with the explanations offered by Mr Ussif, hence his absence from the charge sheet. There has also been no official explanation regarding the nine other individuals whose names were not released at the June 13 press conference.
The scandal, described by Dr Ayine as a “coordinated criminal enterprise,” involved the insertion of thousands of fictitious names into the NSS payroll system, with payments routed through the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GHIPSS).
“In the 2022/2023 service year alone, GH¢350 million was stolen. Total losses from 2018 to 2024 amount to GH¢548,333,542,” Dr Ayine disclosed at the briefing.
He added that the manipulation was carried out by senior NSS officials in collusion with vendors who either supplied no goods or inflated invoices to siphon state funds.
“Our investigations compared monthly data of verified national service personnel from the central management system and what was actually paid through GHIPSS. It was established that a total of 587,543 personnel were supposed to be submitted for payment, but the numbers were inflated to facilitate the fraud,” the Attorney-General explained.
Among those initially accused were former NSS Executive Director Mustapha Ussif, former Director-General Osei Assibey Antwi, former Deputy Executive Directors Gifty Oware-Mensah, as well as several regional and district directors across the country.
Also implicated were vendors who received millions of cedis into their accounts but failed to provide evidence of goods supplied or loans disbursed to service personnel.
“None of the vendors provided evidence to the investigative team or to myself to prove that the amounts they received corresponded to items supplied or loans supposedly made to national service personnel,” Dr Ayine stressed.
He revealed that some vendors and officials involved had entered into non-prosecution agreements with the state and would serve as witnesses during the trial.
The Attorney-General’s Office added that the charges would be filed in the first week of July, and efforts were underway to recover all stolen funds as part of the ORAL campaign.
Charge sheets filed on Monday, 13 October 2025, at the High Court in Accra accuse former NSA boss Osei Assibey Antwi of authorising payments to over 60,000 non-existent national service personnel and misappropriating public funds between August 2021 and February 2025.
Mr Assibey Antwi faces multiple counts under sections 179A(1) and 124(1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), and section 1(2)(c) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2020 (Act 1044).
On Count One, prosecutors allege that he wilfully caused financial loss of GH¢500,861,744.02 to the Republic by authorising payments to “ghost” service personnel.
He also faces six counts of stealing, with the prosecution claiming that between August 2023 and May 2024, he dishonestly appropriated various sums totalling several million cedis belonging to the NSA.
The alleged thefts include, GH¢3.6 million on 22 August 2023, GH¢516,000 each on 11 September, 26 October and 23 November 2023, GH¢1.03 million on 18 December 2023, and GH¢2.06 million on 14 May 2024.
Prosecutors further allege that between January 2022 and December 2024, Mr Assibey Antwi caused an additional GH¢8.26 million loss to the state by transferring funds from the NSA’s Control Account to his personal e-zwich card account (No. 1177042059). This transaction also forms the basis of a money laundering charge.
The charge sheet additionally cites unauthorised withdrawals from the Kumawu Farm Project account (No. 1018631542212), amounting to GH¢74 million, allegedly not used for their intended purpose. These include withdrawals of GH¢55 million on 30 September 2022, GH¢15 million on 20 October 2023, and GH¢4 million on 24 January 2024.
The case is expected to be heard at the Accra High Court, where prosecutors will present evidence to support the charges. Mr Assibey Antwi, who served as Executive Director of the NSA until early 2025, has not yet entered a plea.
For her part, former NSA Deputy Executive Director Gifty Oware-Mensah has been charged with stealing and wilfully causing financial loss to the state.
According to court documents released on 13 October 2025, the charges stem from alleged financial irregularities during her tenure at the NSA. The Attorney-General’s Department alleges that she misappropriated GH¢38,458,248.87 between February 2022 and March 2024 while overseeing the finance, audit, and procurement divisions.
“Sometime in February 2025, the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), upon receiving intelligence, initiated investigations into alleged acts of ghost names, stealing, corruption, and money laundering by certain NSA staff,” the document stated.
It added that between February 2022 and March 2024, Mrs Oware-Mensah approached officials of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), claiming that the NSA had signed an agreement with her company, Blocks of Life Consult (BLC), to sell products on hire-purchase to National Service Personnel (NSP). She allegedly requested a GH¢78,139,910.00 loan to support the purported business.
Investigations, however, revealed that no goods were supplied, and the names used to secure the facility were “ghost names” generated from the NSA’s internal system.
The charges against her include Stealing GH¢31,502,091.40 belonging to the NSA, Willfully causing financial loss to the state through a fraudulent hire-purchase scheme, and abusing public office for personal gain.
The fraudulent funds were reportedly obtained through an agreement with ADB, which was to recover repayments from the allowances of 9,934 supposed National Service Personnel all later discovered to be fictitious.
Part of the misappropriated funds was traced to Amaecom Global Company, where Mrs Oware-Mensah also served as a director, as well as other associated entities.
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