Ghana’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine, has disclosed that Gifty Oware-Mensah, the former Deputy Executive Director of the National Service Authority (NSA), undertook a complex fraud that resulted in the syphoning of over GH¢30 million from public funds.
During a press briefing in Accra, the A-G disclosed that these revelations emerged from ongoing investigations by the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) taskforce, which is probing financial irregularities within the NSA.
Dr. Ayine explained that Oware-Mensah manipulated the National Service Personnel (NSP) allowance system, using it as collateral to obtain a loan amounting to GH¢30,698,218.69 from the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) at an exorbitant interest rate of 23%.
He stated “directors, such as Gifty Oware-Mensah, created and executed a meticulously detailed plan, using NSP allowances as security to obtain a loan of thirty million six hundred and ninety-eight thousand, two hundred and eighteen cedis, sixty-nine pesewas (GH¢30,698,218.69) from the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) at an interest rate of twenty-three percent (23%).”
The Attorney General further revealed that Oware-Mensah registered a company named “Blocks of Life Consult” by fraudulently using the identities of individuals without their consent.
“She allegedly registered a company, Blocks of Life Consult,”using the identities of individuals without their knowledge, and presented it to ADB through a middleman, Maxwell Akwesi Ofori-Mintah.”
Adding to the deception, Oware-Mensah’s husband, Peter Mensah, a practicing lawyer, acted as one of the company’s representatives.
“Her husband, Peter Mensah, a lawyer, acted as one of the company’s representatives. She told ADB the company specialised in supplying home appliances to National Service personnel on a hire-purchase basis, to be repaid via deductions managed by the NSA,” Dr. Ayine emphasized.
Dr. Ayine stressed that “Blocks of Life Consult” was never an approved vendor of the NSA, despite Oware-Mensah serving as acting director at the time.
According to the Attorney General, investigations revealed that during the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 service years, Oware-Mensah exploited 9,934 fictitious names to siphon funds illicitly.
Again, the Attorney General also noted that following the disbursement of the loan by ADB, the money was transferred into four different company accounts:
1. GH¢22,925,518.69 to AMAECOM, a company where Oware-Mensah is a director
2. GH¢1,000,000.00 to Scafold, linked to Abraham Gaisie
3. GH¢1,572,700.00 to OTCHEY
4. GH¢5,200,000.00 to Aristo Logistics and Trading
