Detective Sergeant Collins Woode told the High Court that 63,673 names with no verifiable identities drew National Service allowances for no work.

Published 11 Nov 2026, 20:18 GMT

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ADB Banker Says No Theft Complaint Filed Against Gifty Oware-Mensah Over GH¢31m Loss

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An investigator says 63,673 "faceless names" drew National Service Authority allowances for work never done, telling the Accra High Court the payroll records cover the 2023 and 2024 service periods.

Detective Sergeant Collins Woode of the Bureau of National Investigations gave the figure on Wednesday, November 11, testifying before Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay as the fourth prosecution witness in the trial of former NSA Deputy Executive Director Gifty Oware-Mensah.

The five counts against Ms Oware-Mensah are wilfully causing financial loss to the state, stealing, money laundering and using public office for profit, over an alleged loss of more than GH¢38 million. She denies the charges and is on bail.

"We had already done an analysis of the whole Central Management System and we found out that 63,673 faceless names were found in the Central Management System to have received allowances for no work done," he told the court.

Sergeant Woode said the names belonged to no identifiable people, yet money reached them month after month through the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB).

How the names stayed on the payroll

The Central Management System enrols personnel and generates the allowance payroll. Registration captures a date of birth, ID details and a photograph, followed by biometric verification.

Flagged names stay on a banned list rather than being deleted, and the witness said any banned name still drawing a monthly allowance is a faceless one. Personnel must also complete a monthly evaluation to qualify for payment.

The ADB list

The accused submitted 9,934 names to the bank for a loan facility and its repayment, spanning service periods 2022/2023 and 2023/2024. Counting a match as one and a miss as zero, investigators found 7,324 of them on the ghost list too; 2,610 did not match.

Bank officials told investigators that ADB Hire Purchase was not the vendor. Blocks of Life Consult, which the accused brought to the bank, was presented as a reputable supplier seeking finance for goods for about 10,000 personnel, to be repaid through deductions at source.

Repayments ran through an e-zwich account the bank opened against the personnel lists she supplied, which the witness said accounts for ADB's name showing on the system instead. Bank witnesses have already given evidence about the arrangement in earlier hearings.

Citing one name that appeared on both lists, the witness said the 2023/2024 record showed no place of posting or allowance amount for that person.

Deductions came to GH¢7,150 over 11 months, GH¢650 a month, while the rest of the GH¢715 allowance went to Marine Ventures, contracted to supply clothing.

What happens next

Cross-examination was adjourned to Thursday, November 12, with the defence led by Gary Nimako Marfo. The account is yet to be challenged in cross-examination, and the court has reached no conclusions.

Araba IncoomAraba Incoom writes on multiple topics with a vast knowledge across different sector. You can almost call me an AI, after all, my initials are Araba Incoom.

Gifty Oware-Mensah trial: 63,673 faceless names drew allowances for no work – investigator

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