Ghana Attorney general dey pursue 12 national service secretariat officials ova $53m 'ghost names scandal'

Di Attorney general of Ghana don tok say im office don finish investigation into wetin im describe as 'ghost names' scandal for di kontri National service secretariat (NSS).

Dis na di latest for di goment Operation Recovery All Loot (ORAL) agenda wey dey target to collect all moni and properties wia former goment appointees don tiff.

For one press conference on Friday, di attorney general Dr Dominic Ayine tok say dia investigation don find say 12 officials of di secretariat don cause financial loss to di state of ova Ghc 548m ($53m) thru ghost names wia dem put on top di payroll.

Di national service secretariat dey in charge of posting tertiary students to various state agencies and ministries afta dem finish dia tertiary education, for one year.

Di secretariat bin dey post ova 150,000 graduates from di various public tertiary institutions every year across di kontri.

During di one year period, di kontri dey pay dem monthly allowance of Ghc 715 ($70) bifor na ibi Ghc 559 ($54).

Na so some of di authorities in charge for di secretariat bin dey allegedly add thousands of ghost names to di payroll, according to di attorney general.

"We don find say dis officials for di NSS bin use dis ghosts names and oda vendors to siphon millions of money from di state," Dr Ayine explain.

Im add say "for some of di cases di officials create companies wia dem use as vendors to collect di execess moni for dia own business."

So far, di Attorney general tok say dem dey treat di 12 officials as suspects for dis mata.

Dem include di former executive director for di national service secretariat Mustapha Yusif (wia later become di kontri sports minister), Osei Asibey Antwi (di last executive director for di NSS) and Gifty Oware (di deputy executive director for di service) bifor di former goment tenure don end.

Di oda pipo na "staff of di secretariat and managers of some of di third-party vendors wia don create criminal enterprise to misappropriate state funds for dia personal profit."

According to di attorney general, some of di officers don gree wit im office to serve as witness for di trial for court.

Dis na di amount of moni wia don allegedly loss each year since 2018

- 2018/2019 - Ghc 26m ($2.5m)

- 2019/2020 - Ghc 22m ($2.1m)

- 2020/2021 - Ghc 56m ($5.4m)

- 2021/2022- Ghc 61m ($6m)

- 2022/2023 - Ghc 351m ($34m)

- 2023/2024 - Ghc 33m ($3.2m)

In total, di money wia di state don loss na Ghc548m ($53m)

Di kontris National investigations bureau (NIB) and di police CID togeda wit investigators for di attorney general office bin dey investigate dis mata for ova four months.

Dem don freeze di bank accounts of some of dis officials during di investigations.

List of NSS officials and odas wia dem dem go put for court

Two oda suspects dey among di list but di attorney general tok say dem still dey conclude investigations about dis two, bifor dem go publish dia names.

Wetin go be di charges against dis 12 pipo

Di attorney general Dr Dominic Ayine tok say dem go formally file criminal charges against dis officials.

For February dis year, two of di 12 officials of di national service secretariat wia di attorney general describe as suspects, bin release statement afta one media house investigation project "The fourth estate" don publish dia findings of investigation wey show ova 80,000 alleged ghost names on top di national service payroll.

Dis two officers - oga Mustapha Usif and Osei Asibey Antwi bin tok say dem no do anytin wrong.

"Throughout our tenure we don dey committed to implementing robust enrolment and verification systems to reduce attempts by bad pipo to enter di system," di two former executive directors tok.

Dem add say "make di public no mind wetin di fourth estate bin publish about ghost names for di payroll. Dem don misunderstand di data and di process of di NSS wia fit lead to pipo thinking say bad tins happun for di secretariat."

For dat statement on 18 February, dem add say "we welcome di directive by President John Mahama say make dem investigate di mata; dat be wetin go show say we no do anytin wrong."

Afta di latest press conference wia di attorney general announce say im go charge dem wit seven counts, dem no respond yet.

Pipo bin dey ask why di attorney general dey do press conference to announce wetin dem find from dia investigation about ogbonge cases, Dr Dominic Ayine explain say im no do anytin wrong.

"For di US and oda democracies for di world, dia investigators and attorneys bin dey address press conference every time to give update to di kontri about corruption cases dem dey pursue. Na so I go kontinu."

For di last two months, di attorney general don charge four former appointees of di Nana Akufo-Addo goment wia dem allegedly cause financial loss to di state.

Former signals bureau boss Kwabena Adu-Boahene and im wife dey stand trial for di court say dem cause financial loss to di state.

Two odas, di oga for di Ghana infrastructure and investment fund (GIIF) and di board chairman of di fund don dey stand trial ova a $2m sky train scandal.

For dis two cases, di attorney general don address di press bifor im enta court wey im charge dem with separate counts.