NSB finance director details how she unknowingly transferred GH¢49m to Adu-Boahene’s account

In her witness statement cited by GhanaWeb, Opokua Adumuah, as the custodian of the cheques of the NSB: ‘Bureau of National Communications,’ ‘Bureau of National Communications 2’ and ‘The Director BNC,’ said she received instructions from Adu-Boahene to write cheques.

She said she handed them over to the signatories to the accounts, which included the former NSB director, for approval.

She indicated that the first cheque she issued on the GH¢49 million in contention was on February 6, 2025, and was on the instruction of Adu-Boahene (A1).

She added that Adu-Boahene instructed her to write the cheque of GH¢27.1 million with “BNC Operations” as the payee.

Ruth explained further that she thought that “BNC Operations” was the NSB’s ‘Bureau of National Communications 2,’ which is the operational account of the bureau kept at the Bank of Ghana (BoG), but later got to know that it was the account for Adu-Boahene and his wife (A2), which they kept at the UMB.

“On February 6, 2020, A1 instructed me to write a cheque for twenty-seven million, one hundred thousand Ghana cedis (GH¢27,100,000.00) with ‘BNC Operations’ as the payee. After writing the cheque, I handed it over to A1 for the necessary signatures. My Lord, when A1 directed me to write the cheque with ‘BNC Operations’ as the payee, I understood the description to refer to an existing operational bank account belonging to the bureau, which I was not privy to due to my level of clearance.

“I later found out, when I was invited for questioning concerning this case, that that particular cheque was deposited into an account named ‘BNC Communications Bureau-Operations’ at UMB Bank. I did not know this at the time I wrote the cheque for A1. I also found out from EOCO investigators that that bank account belonged to a private company called ‘BNC Communication Bureau Limited,’ which is owned and controlled by A1 and A2,” parts of her witness statement read.

Adu-Boahene is a Director-General of the NSB, formerly known as the Bureau of National Communications (BNC)

The NSB finance director further stated that she received similar instructions from Adu-Boahene and wrote cheques of GH¢1 million and GH¢21 million, which were all drawn from the bureau’s ‘The Director BNC’ account.

“Also, on March 18, 2020, A1 instructed me to write a cheque for one million Ghana cedis (GH¢1,000,000.00) to be drawn on BNC’s ‘The Director BNC’ account at Fidelity Bank. Then, on March 30, 2020, I wrote another cheque for twenty-one million Ghana cedis (GH¢21,000,000.00), also to be drawn on the BNC’s ‘The Director BNC’ account at Fidelity Bank. I wrote this third cheque, too, on the instructions of A1. I wrote the second and third cheques also with ‘BNC Operations’ as the payee. After A1 and the late JOSHUA KYEREMEH had signed, A1 then gave me an account number and directed me to deposit the two cheques into the ‘BNC Operations’ bank account at UMB Bank.

“I complied with A1’s directive, believing that the ‘BNC Operations’ bank account was an additional BNC operational account which I did not have the security clearance to know. I can identify the copies of cheque numbered 020086 for GH¢27,100,000.00, cheque numbered 020089 for GH¢1,000,000.00, and cheque numbered 020094 for GH¢21,000,000.00 to the honourable court,” she added.

About the state’s case:

Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine