NSS Scandal: High Court admits ADB account opening documents in Gifty-Oware Mensah trial

The Accra High Court has admitted into evidence, account opening documents of Blocks of Life Consult Limited with the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), which investigators allege facilitated the transfer of more than GHS31 million in state funds into a private account linked to former Deputy Executive Director of the National Service Authority (NSA), Gifty Oware-Mensah.

The Head of Commercial Banking at ADB, Gilbert Sebe-Yeboah, on Thursday identified a series of documents before the court as part of evidence during cross-examination.

Ms Oware-Mensah is standing trial over allegations that she caused financial loss to the state amounting to over GHS31 million in connection with the National Service ghost names scandal.

She has pleaded not guilty to charges including stealing, two counts of willfully causing financial loss to the state, using public office for profit, and money laundering.

During proceedings on Thursday May 21, 2026, defence counsel Gary Nimako Marfo sought to tender into evidence account opening documents relating to Blocks of Life Consult Limited.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the presiding judge, Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, admitted the documents into evidence.

“Having listened to both counsels, the objection will be overruled and the documents tendered,” Justice Kocuvie-Tay ruled.

She subsequently admitted the account opening form of Blocks of Life Consult Limited as additional evidence.

Principal State Attorney Dufie Prempeh had objected to the admission of the documents and opposed attempts by defence counsel to question the witness on them.

According to the prosecution, the documents were not attached to Mr Sebe-Yeboah’s witness statement and did not form part of the exhibits he had initially submitted to the court.

The prosecution further argued that the witness lacked the expertise to testify on the documents because, at the material time, he served as Head of Consumer Finance at ADB and was not directly responsible for opening accounts.

Mr Marfo, however, rejected the objection, arguing that the documents were central to the case.

“My Lady, respectfully, the objection from my learned counsel for the Republic is baseless and not grounded in law,” he argued.

“The account opening form we are asking him to tender is what was used to create the account for Blocks of Life Consult Limited with ADB on February 10, 2022, and there is no proper person to speak to this document than an officer of ADB,” he added.

Mr Marfo further contended that the investigator merely retrieved the documents from the bank during investigations and could not testify as an ADB officer.

In response, Ms Prempeh cited Section 60 of the Evidence Act, 1975 (NRCD 323), arguing that a witness could not testify on matters outside their personal knowledge.

“My Lady, based on this, my objection is not baseless but properly grounded in law,” she submitted.

Justice Kocuvie-Tay nevertheless ruled in favour of the defence, noting that the witness had already clarified that he was not the officer directly responsible for opening the account.

“The objection is overruled because he [Mr Sebe-Yeboah] has already stated that he was not the scheduled officer. Between 2017 and 2025, he was Head of Consumer Finance and not an account-opening officer,” the judge stated.

The court also admitted into evidence a master mandate form used to establish banking relationships and define the operational instructions for accounts.

The matter has been adjourned to June 1, 2026, for the continuation of cross-examination.

The latest proceedings come days after a five-member panel of the Supreme Court of Ghana, presided over by Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, unanimously dismissed an application seeking to halt Ms Oware-Mensah’s trial at the High Court.

The application sought to suspend proceedings pending a constitutional challenge over the disclosure of defence witnesses.

During case management proceedings, the High Court directed the accused person to file a list of defence witnesses and their addresses in accordance with the Practice Direction on Disclosure and Case Management in Criminal Proceedings, 2018.

Her lawyers argued that the directive violated Article 19(2)(c) of the 1992 Constitution, which guarantees the presumption of innocence.

Part 2(3)(a) of the Practice Direction requires an accused person, for purposes of case management, to disclose the names and addresses of intended witnesses if called upon to open a defence.

The Supreme Court, however, ruled that the constitutional challenge did not justify a stay of proceedings and held that the criminal trial could continue while the constitutional issue is pursued separately.

Background

The criminal case against the former NSA executive follows a series of investigations published by The Fourth Estate in 2025.

The investigations uncovered how thousands of ghost names, including fictitious or ineligible individuals such as toddlers, elderly persons, and persons with no verifiable ties to tertiary institutions were allegedly inserted into the NSA payroll system.

In October 2025, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dominic Ayine charged Ms Oware-Mensah with allegedly generating 9,934 ghost names on the NSA’s Central Management System.

According to the prosecution, she subsequently took control of Blocks of Life Consult Limited by appointing her mother’s driver as one of the company’s directors before presenting the company to ADB.

Prosecutors allege that she informed the bank that the company had supplied goods on hire purchase to the 9,934 purported national service personnel and intended to use their allowances as collateral for a financial facility.

The prosecution further alleges that the scheme enabled her to fraudulently obtain GHS31,502,091.40 from ADB through deductions from allowances assigned to the alleged ghost names over an 11-month period.

Ms Oware-Mensah has pleaded not guilty to all charges and remains on bail pending the determination of the case.