Samuel Atta Akyea
Samuel Atta Akyea, lead Counsel for former Director-General of National Signals Bureau, Kwabena Adu Boahene and his wife, Angela Adjei-Boateng, is expected to conclude his cross-examination of the prosecution’s last witness in a trial where they are accused of stealing and causing financial loss of GH¢49.1 million to the state.
The lawyer’s extensive cross-examination of the witness, Frank Cromwell Marshall, the lead investigator, has exposed gaps in the prosecution’s allegations of the disputed GH¢49.1 million loss.
One of the major issues under contention is the Attorney General’s description of National Security Coordinator’s bank account at Fidelity Bank as ‘State BNC’ while describing the BNC Communications Bureau Limited account at UMB Bank as ‘Private BNC’ belonging to Mr. Adu-Boahene and his wife.
Mr. Atta Akyea has been able to get the prosecution’s last witness, Frank Cromwell Marshall to admit that Mr. Adu-Boahene did not have sole control of the account from which the GH¢49.1 million originated, and that about GH¢9.5 million was paid directly to ISC Holdings, the Israeli company contracted to supply the cyber security system to Ghana.
The investigator has also confirmed that the Fidelity Bank account had three signatories: the late Joshua Kyeremeh, then National Security Coordinator; Seth Danso, Head of Finance at the Office of the National Security Coordinator; and Kwabena Adu Boahene, then Director-General of National Signals Bureau.
A fundamental revelation from the extensive cross-examinations is the admission that there is no government agency known as ‘State BNC,’ as what is being referred to as ‘State BNC’ was actually a special operations account established and operated by the National Security Coordinator at Fidelity Bank.
The witness also confirmed that two signatures were required for withdrawals from the said account, which means Mr. Adu-Boahene alone could not access, withdraw or transfer funds from the account without another signatory approving the transaction.
Another significant revelation made by the investigator is that the three cheques totalling GH¢49.1 million were signed by Joshua Kyeremeh and co-signed by Mr Adu Boahene.
Another major issue at stake is the prosecution’s narrative that the GH¢49.1 million was obtained under the guise of procuring a cyber-defence system and subsequently misappropriated.
However, the defence maintains that the funds were connected to National Security operations and that the evidence does not establish that the entire GH¢49.1 million was exclusively earmarked for the cyber-defence procurement.
National Security Account
Mr. Atta Akyea, during his further cross-examination of the witness, pointed out to him that the bank statement of the National Security Coordinator’s account at Fidelity Bank contains deposits made by Mr. Adu-Boahene and various national security operatives, including certain names that he mentioned to the witness.
“There are a lot transactions on the account by some of the names mentioned,” the witness answered.
Mr. Atta Akyea then asked the witness if it was his case that these funds from Mr. Adu-Boahene’s personal account and cash deposits by some of the names mentioned became funds of the republic by their sheer payment into the Coordinator’s account. The witness said he does not know about that.
“Did you enquire into why monies from A1’s (Adu-Boahene’s) account and other individuals were paid to the Coordinator’s account?” the lawyer asked.
“No,” the witness answered, while adding that in respect of the April 2020 transfer of GH¢7.2 million from Adu-Boahene’s account, Fidelity Bank said after funds had been moved from the Director’s account to BNC Communications account, they approached the Director of BNC to mitigate their losses for which reason Adu-Boahene transferred GH¢7.2 million “of the stolen funds into the account.”
“From your own thinking, you are saying that A1 returned GH¢7.2 million of the alleged stolen funds to its owner,” the lawyer further asked.
“Yes, my Lord,” the witness answered.
“I put it to you that careful study of the bank statements of the Coordinator’s account – NSC would have shown you that the named individuals made deposits totalling GH¢19,919,736 into the Coordinator’s account – NSC at the Fidelity Bank between August 2017 and February 2025,” Mr. Atta Akyea further asked.
“I don’t know about that,” Frank Cromwell Marshall answered.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak