Attorney General and Minister for Justice Dr. Dominic Ayine has disclosed significant progress in the ongoing investigation into financial irregularities at the National Service Authority, revealing that eight suspects, including three former officers of the Authority, have approached his office for plea negotiations.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series in Accra on Monday, July 28, Dr. Ayine stated, “I am happy to announce that eight suspects in this investigation have approached my office for plea negotiation, including three former officers of the National Service Authority.”
He noted that some of the suspects, including vendors and service providers, have expressed readiness to testify against their associates. “Some officials have offered to testify against their colleagues, and some vendors and service providers are willing to come clean and testify as prosecution witnesses,” he added.
Dr. Ayine stressed that the information being offered is credible and comes from individuals directly involved in the alleged wrongdoing.
“They are not coming to say hearsay. These are people who were involved, and we are in negotiations with them and their lawyers,” he said.
The Attorney General also explained that the filing of charges, initially scheduled for last week, was delayed due to new and critical evidence of financial malfeasance. According to him, investigators uncovered a suspicious transaction involving a Bank of Ghana account into which GH¢189 million had been deposited, with GH¢80 million currently unaccounted for.
“We stumbled upon evidence of malfeasance involving a Bank of Ghana account into which GH¢189 million had been deposited. Out of this amount, GH¢80 million cannot be traced,” Dr. Ayine revealed.
“We found two cheques bearing the name and account details of the former Director-General, Mr. Osei Asibe, which were used to withdraw nearly GH¢2 million from the said account,” he added.
He further noted that charges are being held back to allow investigators time to retrieve key documents from the Bank of Ghana, the Ministry of Finance, and the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department.
“In fact, as I speak, the Bank of Ghana has signalled to me that they will deliver the entire bank statement for my attention this morning,” he said.
