Former Deputy Executive Director of the National Service Authority (NSA), Gifty Oware-Mensah, has been released by the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) after being questioned in connection with an ongoing probe into the ghost names scandal at the NSA.

Per reports, she was discharged on Saturday after several hours of questioning. Sources say she was granted bail but the terms and disclosed amount are unknown.

Gifty Oware-Mensah was arrested on March 7, following her return to Ghana on March 5 after being named a suspect in an ongoing probe into a ghost-name scandal after the release of an investigation by The Fourth Estate.

It is reported that Madam Oware-Mensah was detained despite multiple efforts to secure her bail. Sources say former New Patriotic Party (NPP) General Secretary, John Boadu, attempted to intervene to facilitate her release. However, she was later moved from the NIB premises to an undisclosed location.

The former NSA boss following the 2024 elections had been abroad for a few months, taking a post-election break.

Prior to her arrest, Minority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin assured that Oware-Mensah was willing to cooperate with the NIB’s investigations. Her legal team was reportedly arranging for her to meet with investigators when she was taken into custody.The Fourth Estate’s investigation has exposed major payroll irregularities, including the fraudulent use of "ghost names" to inflate the payroll and divert funds. It revealed that officials bypassed mandatory validation processes, enabling thousands of nonexistent individuals to be added to the payroll.

In some cases, names were duplicated multiple times, with one appearing as many as 226 times. Among the falsely listed beneficiaries was a 72-year-old Kenyan, Kwame Donkor, along with other foreign nationals.Consequently, President John Dramani Mahama, in his first State of the Nation Address, directed law enforcement agencies to take firm action against those implicated.

This has led to intensified investigations and a series of arrests. Aside from Gifty Oware-Mensah, former Deputy Director of Operations at NSA, Kwaku Ohene Gyan was arrested on February 22, and subsequently released.