The High Court in Accra has amended the bail conditions of former Executive Director of the National Service Authority, Osei Assibey Antwi, allowing him to report to the Kumasi office of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) instead of Accra.
The decision follows a request by his lawyers during court proceedings on Monday, which the state did not oppose.
Prosecutors told the court they had disclosed 49 documents to the defense and indicated that additional disclosures would be made. The defense subsequently requested a one-month adjournment to review the materials and also applied for a variation of the bail conditions.
The presiding judge granted the request to vary the bail terms and adjourned the case to May 13.
Mr Antwi is standing trial on charges including stealing, money laundering, and causing financial loss to the state in connection with his tenure at the authority.
The charges have since been amended, with a significant revision to the principal allegation of causing financial loss to the state. Initially, prosecutors alleged that he authorised payments totaling GH¢500,861,744.02 to more than 60,000 purported “ghost” national service personnel.
However, the amended charge reduces the alleged financial loss to GH¢431,761,556.76. It now states that the payments were made to “non-service personnel and unverified individuals,” rather than specifically referencing over 60,000 ghost names.
Investigations by the National Intelligence Bureau reportedly found that 63,672 unverified registrants were submitted into the payment system between 2018 and 2024 for service allowances or vendor payments.
Between August 2021 and February 2025, the Authority is alleged to have disbursed GH¢431,761,556.76 to individuals who either did not undertake national service or whose identities could not be verified.
