The Accra High Court has granted bail to Osei Assibey Antwi, the former Director-General of the National Service Authority (NSA), in the sum of GH¢800 million, with six sureties who must each justify the bail with landed properties equivalent to the amount.

The decision, delivered by Justice Kizita Naa Koowa Quarshie on Thursday, October 30, followed Mr. Osei Assibey’s first formal court appearance after he failed to appear at an earlier sitting. His lawyers had explained that their client had not been served with any formal notice or charge sheet at the time.

Mr. Osei Assibey pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of financial crimes brought against him by the State. The charges include causing financial loss to the State, stealing, and money laundering, allegedly involving amounts exceeding GH¢1.5 billion.

As part of the bail conditions, the former NSA boss is to deposit all his passports at the Court Registry and has been placed on the Ghana Immigration Service stop list pending the final determination of the case. He is also required to report to the Police Headquarters on the first and third Wednesdays of every month.

The court further directed the prosecution, led by Deputy Attorney-General Dr. Justice Srem-Sai, to file all disclosures before the next hearing, scheduled for December 2, 2025, at 9:00 a.m.

In reaction to the court’s ruling, Counsel for the accused, Osei Owusu, appealed to the court that his client’s cooperation with investigations since the charges were levelled against him proves that he is not a flight risk and further expressed concerns about how Mr Assibey had been unjustly vilified in the media when he is yet to be declared guilty or innocent.

He argued that Mr Assibey was a well-respected man who served the Republic in his role with integrity.

State prosecutor, and Deputy Attorney General Dr Justice Srem-Sai, on the other hand, succumbed to the bail conditions of the former NSA boss, but urged the court to consider the gravity of the offences and the significant sums involved, cautioning that the accused’s recent conduct raised questions about his willingness to appear before the court.

Mr Assibey is currently facing prosecution for fourteen charges alongside his deputy, Gifty Oware. In total, the alleged offences connected to Mr Antwi are valued at approximately GH¢615,117,744.02.

The accusations include causing financial loss to the Republic, with the main charge suggesting that he approved payments of allowances to over 60,000 ghost national service personnel, leading to a total loss of GH¢500,861,744.02.

He is additionally charged with several counts of theft amounting to GH¢8,256,000, which allegedly occurred between August 2023 and May 2024.

Prosecutors say Mr Antwi diverted project funds, authorising the withdrawal of GH¢106 million from the NSA’s Kumawu Farm Project account on five different occasions without using any of it for the intended purpose.

Meanwhile, a recent forensic audit report has revealed that Mr Assibey Antwi was enrolled in the National Service Programme’s payroll system between 2023 and 2024 as a volunteer, receiving a monthly salary of GH¢516,000 and a total of GH¢8,256,000 over the period via an EZWICH card with a unique service number (USN).

This was revealed following a forensic audit conducted by the Auditor General as part of the Technical and Forensic Review of the Centralised Payment Management System (CSMP) and Metric App.

The audit revealed that Mr Assibey was illegally registered as a volunteer to be deployed to Kumawu Farms under the service number NVPKUMAWUFARMS when he was officially working at the NSS headquarters in Accra as Executive Director.

Auditors noted that the payments were made despite the absence of any documentation proving that he performed voluntary service or managed funds on behalf of others at Kumawu Farms. The report stated:

"There is no evidence or documentation at Kumawu Farms (e.g., sign-in sheets, receipts, disbursement logs) indicating that Mr Assibey Antwi Osei received the funds on behalf of the volunteers or disbursed the same to them," the report said.

The findings, auditors said, represent a serious breach of good governance and accountability standards as set out in the Public Services Commission Guidelines and the Audit Service Regulations, 2011 (C.I. 70), which require that all public payments be verifiable, properly documented, and duly approved.

Auditors have since recommended that the GH¢8.26 million be recovered in full and that further investigations be conducted to determine whether the transactions were authorised or part of a broader payroll manipulation scheme.

The report on the National Service Authority (NSA) also revealed other irregularities involving ghost names, duplicate EZWICH registrations, and the unauthorised enrolment of over 4,500 individuals costing nearly GH¢900,000, pointing to systemic weaknesses in internal controls.

Mr Assibey's Deputy, Gifty Oware, is also currently facing prosecution for five charges, including wilfully causing financial loss to the state, stealing, money laundering, using public office for profit, and conspiracy to commit crime.

Gifty Oware illegally enrolled herself as a national service personnel while already serving as a salaried public officer at the NSA and received GH¢6,708.48 in service allowances over 12 months, despite being ineligible.

Sha was involved in a broader scheme that allegedly misappropriated GH¢38,458,248.87 between February 2022 and March 2024, using ghost names and fraudulent service PINs.

She was formally expected to make her first appearance in court on October 17 but did not show up. Her legal team presented a two-day excuse duty as the reason for her absence. Subsequently, on October 22, she appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to all the charges levelled against her.