Story: News Desk 

The Accra High Court has adjourned proceedings in the case involving former Deputy Executive Director of the National Service Authority (NSA), Gifty Oware-Mensah, following her absence from court on Friday, October 17, after the court was informed that she had submitted a two-day medical excuse.

 Also, a lawyer for the former Director-General of the NSA, Osei Asibey Antwi, who also appeared before the High Court on Friday, informed the court that his client had been instructed to report to police investigators in Kumasi and was currently there.

The National Service Scheme (NSS) has been hit by a major financial scandal involving its former Deputy Executive Director, Gifty Oware-Mensah, and former Executive Director Osei Assibey Antwi. The two have been accused of presiding over a GH¢653 million fraud, largely driven by the payment of allowances to tens of thousands of ghost service personnel.

 A nationwide verification exercise revealed that while the NSS payroll listed over 180,000 personnel, only about 98,000 were verified as genuine. The rest were allegedly fictitious names used to siphon millions of cedis from the state.

Beyond the ghost-name scandal, Mrs Oware-Mensah has also been implicated in a separate GH¢30.7 million loan fraud involving a company she allegedly registered under false pretences to secure financing from the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), using allowances of service personnel as collateral.

The lawyer also noted that the defence team had not yet been served with a charge sheet.