The former Director-General of the National Service Authority (NSA), Osei Assibey Antwi, has been granted bail of GH₵800 million by the High Court in Accra following his plea of not guilty to 14 charges, including causing financial loss, stealing, and money laundering.
The offences, which fall under the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) and the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2020 (Act 1044), relate to alleged misappropriation of over GHC1.5 billion during his tenure at the NSA.
Justice Kizita Naa Koowa Quarshie, who presided over the case on Thursday, October 30, also ordered six sureties for Antwi, with each providing landed property equivalent to the bail sum as security.
Additionally, the court placed him on the Ghana Immigration Service stop list and required him to deposit all his passports with the registry. Antwi must report to the Police Headquarters and the NIB on the first and third Wednesdays of every month.
Antwi, who served as the principal spending officer and signatory for the NSA accounts, is accused of authorizing payments to ghost names, including over 60,000 fictitious national service personnel, resulting in losses totaling GHC500.86 million in allowances alone.
Other individual charges involve sums ranging from GHC516,000 to GHC55 million.
His counsel, Osei Owusu, described him as a respected public servant who had cooperated fully with investigators and maintained that he posed no flight risk.
Deputy Attorney General Dr. Justice Srem-Sai, while not opposing bail, highlighted the seriousness of the offences and the large sums involved, urging the court to ensure conditions that would compel Antwi to stand trial.
The prosecution has been directed to file all evidence, and the case has been scheduled to continue on December 2, 2025. Antwi faces scrutiny for alleged financial mismanagement during his service from August 2021 to February 2025, a period during which over GHC1.5 billion reportedly could not be accounted for.
