Gifty Oware-Mensah
An erstwhile former Executive Deputy Director of the National Service Authority (NSA), Gifty Oware-Mensah, has filed an application urging a High Court in Accra to stay proceedings in her trial, pending the determination on an appeal against the order of the court on her to file the names and addresses of her potential witnesses.
The court has already dismissed an application asking it to halt the trial and refer Article 19 (2)(c) to the Supreme Court for interpretation vis-à-vis the provision of the Practice Direction requiring accused persons to file names and addresses of witnesses.
Mrs. Oware-Mensah is standing trial before the court for allegedly stealing and causing financial loss of GH¢38.4 million to the state.
The court has already adopted the witness statement of the prosecution’s first witness, Gilbert Sebe-Yeboah, a staff of Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) and began admitting the attached exhibits as the prosecution takes steps to establish the guilt of the accused person.
But the trial has so far stalled as a result of the interlocutory applications filed by the accused person challenging the order on her to file the names of the witnesses she will call if the need arises.
The court was expected to hear the application for stay of proceedings pending the determination of the appeal yesterday.
However, Gary Nimako Marfo, counsel for the accused, told the court that he had not been served with the prosecution’s affidavit in opposition to the application.
The trial judge, Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, said she was inclined to believe that Mr. Nimako had not been served since there was no proof of service on the record of the affidavit in opposition of the application.
She, therefore, ordered that the affidavit in opposition be served on the accused to enable the court deal with the motion. The case was adjourned to March 9, 2026.
Trial
Gifty Oware-Mensah has been dragged to court for allegedly causing financial loss of GH¢6,956,157.47 by causing the state to pay the said amount as interest to the Agricultural Development Bank on a GH¢31,502,091.40 loan inappropriately authorised for Blocks of Life Consult, which she benefitted from.
She has also been accused of stealing and laundering GH¢31,502,091.40 by transferring it from the NSA higher-purchase escrow account with ADB to Blocks of Life Consult “for the purpose of disguising the illicit origin of the money, knowing it to be proceeds of crime.”
She pleaded not guilty to all the five charges read out by the court clerk, and was granted a bail of GH¢10 million with three sureties, two of whom must be justified with landed property within Accra.
The sureties are to deposit a copy of their Ghana Card with the registrar, while the accused was ordered to deposit her passport(s) with the registrar. She was also placed on the Stop List at all entry points of the country.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak