The NSA fraud trial heard Tuesday that monthly payments of GH¢1,911,257.09 set up on Gifty Oware-Mensah’s alleged instruction ran for 11 months, generating more than GH¢21 million in cumulative transfers through the National Service Authority’s payment system.
Eric Nyarko, a former Head of Accounts at the National Service Authority (NSA) who served in that role from May 2017 to March 2024, gave the testimony as the third prosecution witness at the Accra High Court. He was led in evidence by Director of Public Prosecutions Mrs. Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa. The court adopted his witness statements and admitted ten exhibits including email attachments and documents the prosecution says detail transactions allegedly carried out at the accused’s direction.
Under cross-examination by Oware-Mensah’s counsel Gary Nimako Marfo, Nyarko said he forwarded data to the Authority’s e-zwich accountant to establish a standing order for the monthly figure, acting on instructions from Oware-Mensah in her capacity as Deputy Director of Finance and Administration. The standing order arrangement, once set, ran without amendment for 11 months, producing the cumulative GH¢21,023,827.88 figure. Cross-examination was not completed and will resume when the case returns on Thursday, June 25.
Nyarko’s position in the trial is significant. He was originally among the 12 former NSA officials the Attorney General announced for prosecution in June 2025 over the ghost names payroll scandal, but the prosecution has since opted to deploy him as a witness rather than an accused. His insider knowledge of how the Authority’s accounts and payment systems operated during the relevant period places him at the centre of the prosecution’s case.
Oware-Mensah faces five counts including stealing, wilfully causing financial loss to the state, using public office for profit and money laundering. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has not been found guilty of any offence. She is on bail of GH¢10 million with three sureties, with her passport deposited with the court registrar and her name placed on the stop list at national entry points.
The prosecution’s case centres on allegations that Oware-Mensah created 9,934 fictitious names in the NSA database and used a private company, Blocks of Life Consult, to secure a loan of approximately GH¢30.7 million from the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) on the false claim that the company had supplied goods to national service personnel on hire-purchase terms. Investigators say the names were fictitious and no goods were supplied. The trial has faced repeated procedural delays since it began in late 2025, driven largely by repeated applications from the defence over the disclosure of defence witnesses, the latest of which the Supreme Court dismissed in May 2026, allowing substantive testimony to proceed.
Thursday’s session will see Nyarko return to the stand for the continuation of cross-examination, with proceedings expected to probe further the circumstances under which the standing order was created and how payments were routed through the e-zwich system during the period in question.
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