The Accra High Court has adjourned proceedings in the case involving the former Deputy Executive Director of the National Service Authority (NSA), Gifty Oware-Mensah, after she failed to appear in court on Friday, October 17. Her lawyers informed the court that she had presented a two-day medical excuse.
Meanwhile, counsel for the former Director-General of the NSA, Osei Asibey Antwi, told the court that his client was unable to attend because he had been directed to report to police investigators in Kumasi. The lawyer further indicated that the defence team had not yet been served with the charge sheet.
The case stems from a major financial scandal at the National Service Scheme (NSS) involving both Oware-Mensah and Asibey Antwi. The two are alleged to have overseen a GH¢653 million fraud, primarily linked to the payment of allowances to tens of thousands of ghost service personnel.
A nationwide verification exercise reportedly revealed that while the NSS payroll listed over 180,000 personnel, only about 98,000 were confirmed as legitimate. The remaining names were said to be fictitious entries used to divert millions of cedis in state funds.
In addition, Mrs. Oware-Mensah has been implicated in a separate GH¢30.7 million loan fraud case. She is accused of registering a company under false pretences to obtain a loan from the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), allegedly using service personnel allowances as collateral.
