The Accra High Court, presided over by Justice Kizita Naa Koowa Quarshie, has adjourned the criminal trial of former National Service Authority (NSA) Executive Director, Osei Assibey Antwi, to Wednesday, May 13, 2026.
The adjournment follows a request by the prosecution for additional time to file the remaining set of disclosures in the ghost names scandal case, where the accused faces 21 counts, including causing financial loss to the state to the tune of over GH¢431.8 million.
Representing the Republic, Dufie Prempeh during proceedings on Monday, April 13, 2026, informed the court that the state had filed disclosures comprising about 49 documents with attachments that morning, but another set still needed to be completed. She prayed for a short adjournment of one or two weeks to finalise the process.
Defence counsel Ralph Poku-Adusei, who is also the Member of Parliament for Bekwai, opposed the short timeline. He argued that the prosecution had taken considerable time to prepare the documents and requested a similar period of one month for the defence to adequately study them.
Justice Kizita Naa Koowa Quarshie following opposition by the defense, ultimately settled on three weeks, urging the state to serve the defence “timeously.” The case was accordingly adjourned to May 13, 2026.
In a related development, the defence prayed for a variation of the accused’s bail conditions to allow Osei Assibey Antwi to report to the Bureau of National Intelligence (BNI) office in Kumasi instead of Accra. The prosecution, led by Dufie Prempeh, raised no objection, and the court granted the request, ordering that the accused now reports to the Kumasi BNI.
Osei Assibey Antwi, who led the NSA from September 2021 to January 2025, has pleaded not guilty to all 21 charges. The charges according to the prosecution arises from an alleged scheme involving payments to non-service personnel and unverified individuals, following investigations that included a performance audit by the Auditor-General.
He remains on bail under existing conditions, which include reporting to the BNI twice monthly (on the first and third Wednesdays), surrender of his passports, and placement on the watch list.
The case has seen several developments, including amendments to the charge sheet and reductions in the bail sum from an initial GH¢800 million to GH¢120 million with two sureties.
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