Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba
The Attorney General (AG) has withdrawn some important evidence earlier disclosed to the court and lawyers in the trial of former Chief Executive Officer of National Food and Buffer Stock Company Limited (NAFCO), Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba, his wife Faiza Seidu Wuni and three others, accused of stealing GH¢78 million from the state.
The documents were part of a huge stack disclosed by the prosecution, contained in two boxes presented to the court, and referred to in paragraph 38 of the witness statement of Julius Nudawu, a Staff Officer at the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).
As a result, the two boxes of documents containing supposed evidence of supplies authenticated and paid for by the Ministry of Education in favour of NAFCO have been taken out.
The prosecution says it will no longer be relying on the documents as evidence which were earlier disclosed to the defence and the court.
The withdrawal followed a series of objections by Godfred Yeboah Dame, counsel for Mr. Abdul-Wahab as well as counsel for the wife, Augustine Obour, to the documents.
The objections centred on the lack of clarity of the documents and failure by the prosecution to show how they are connected to the alleged irregular payments made by the former CEO of NAFCO.
Graffiti Markings
Meanwhile, Mr. Dame has challenged the basis of graffiti markings allegedly made by EOCO officers at Mr. Abdul-Wahab’s residence on April 8, 2026, without a court order.
He argued that this act violated the rights of the accused persons to live in dignity and their presumption of innocence under the constitution.
EOCO officers who were present in court admitted that an incident like that seemed to have happened but said they were not directly involved and did not know the full circumstances.
The court ordered the Assets and Surveillance Department of EOCO to appear in court at the next adjourned date to answer to the allegations by the counsel for the accused.
Trial
Hanan Abdul-Wahab, Faiza Seidu Wuni, together with Richard Sam-Asante, who is said to be on the run; the Ludiba Foundation and Energy Partners Limited, two companies related to the couple, have been charged by the Attorney General for allegedly stealing money from the state through a criminal enterprise.
The five are facing 24 counts of charges of stealing, fraudulently causing financial loss to the state, abetment of stealing, money laundering, defrauding by false pretences, intentional dissipation of public funds, using public office for profit, dishonestly receiving and intentionally causing financial loss to the state.
According to the charge sheet, Mr. Abdul-Wahab allegedly stole GH¢50.879 million from NAFCO by transferring it to James Tieku-Apawu, operating under the name Sawtina Enterprise, between February 2017 and February 2025.
Faiza Seidu Wuni allegedly laundered a total of GH¢34,608,834.62 knowing at the time of taking the money that it was acquired through a criminal enterprise.
She is also accused of dishonestly receiving GH¢4,401,831.58 from NAFCO between 2018 and 2023, knowing very well that the money was appropriated through stealing.
Richard Sam-Asante, on the other hand, has been charged for conspiring to steal GH¢5,495.748.36 from NAFCO between February 2017 and February 2019.
The couple have pleaded not guilty to the charges and have been granted a total of GH¢150 million bail by the court.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak