Court reduces Osei Assibey Antwi’s GH¢800m bail to GH¢120m
The Accra High Court has decreased the bail amount from GH¢800 million to GH¢120 million for former National Service Authority (NSA) Executive Director Osei Assibey Antwi, following arguments from his lawyers that the initial sum was unfeasible to fulfil.
Mr. Antwi is currently facing trial on charges that he approved payments totalling GH¢500,861,744.02 in allowances to over 60,000 fictitious national service personnel and misappropriated GH¢106 million from the NSA’s Kumawu Farm Project for his personal benefit.
He has entered a plea of not guilty to 14 charges, which include causing financial loss, theft, and money laundering.
Initially, he was granted bail on October 30, with Justice Kizita Naa Koowa Quarshie mandating that he present six sureties, each secured by landed property equivalent to the GH¢800 million bail amount. However, the defendant was unable to satisfy these conditions.
After his legal team submitted a request for a review, the court consented to lower the bail to GH¢120 million.
Mr. Antwi is now obligated to submit copies of his national identity documents to the court registry, report to the police headquarters on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, and remain on the Ghana Immigration Service stop list, which prohibits him from travelling abroad while the case is ongoing.
According to the fact sheet submitted to the High Court, the Attorney-General indicated that investigations uncovered that from 2018 to 2024, approximately 63,672 fictitious (ghost) names were extracted from the prohibited list and presented to Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems Limited (GhIPPS) for either the disbursement of allowances or for vendor payments under the guise that these ghost names had acquired items on hire-purchase from the vendors.
“It came to light that between August 2021 and February 2025, GH¢500,861,744.02 was paid as allowances to ghost names. The said ghost names were authorised by the accused person as Director of NSA and submitted to the GhIPSS,” he said.
He further stated that vendors who were questioned by the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) confirmed that they had received excessive payments for goods and services provided to the national service personnel.