EOCO Witness Says GH¢49.1m in NSB Trial Originated from State Account, Tightening Prosecution’s Case

Ghana’s high-profile National Signals Bureau (NSB) corruption trial took a significant turn on Tuesday after an Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) investigator told the Accra High Court that the GH¢49.1 million at the centre of the prosecution’s case originated from an official state account, reinforcing allegations that public funds earmarked for national security were unlawfully diverted.

Frank Marshall Cromwell, an EOCO Staff Officer and the prosecution’s fourth witness, dismissed attempts by the defence to characterise the account as private, insisting that documentary evidence gathered during investigations identified it as an operational account of the Bureau of National Communications (BNC), the predecessor of the National Signals Bureau.

His testimony strikes at the heart of one of the trial’s central disputes: whether the funds in question constituted public resources subject to state financial controls or money held outside the government’s official accounts.

Under cross-examination by defence counsel Samuel Atta Akyea, Cromwell maintained that the account—identified as the Director BNC Account at Fidelity Bank—was listed among the official accounts operated by the Bureau and was established on the instructions of the National Security Coordinator to finance operational activities of the agency.

The prosecution alleges that GH¢49.1 million allocated for the acquisition of a cyber defence system was diverted through a network of private accounts and companies linked to former NSB Director-General Kwabena Adu-Boahene and other accused persons. Establishing the ownership and legal status of the originating account is expected to be a crucial element in determining whether the transfers amounted to the misappropriation of public funds.

Beyond the substance of the financial allegations, the proceedings also underscored the growing complexity of the case. Justice Francis Ato Achibonga questioned the pace of the defence’s cross-examination after the witness had spent six weeks in the witness box, urging counsel to balance rigorous scrutiny with the court’s obligation to manage the trial efficiently.

Mr Atta Akyea responded that the defence had completed only about 60 per cent of its cross-examination and still intended to pursue several outstanding issues, including matters relating to disclosures ordered by the Court of Appeal in May this year. He also indicated that the defence could seek further guidance from the appellate court regarding those disclosures.

The extended cross-examination means prosecutors are now unlikely to close their case within the timeframe originally anticipated, prolonging one of Ghana’s most closely watched public-sector corruption trials.

For financial governance observers, the case extends beyond the fate of the accused. It has become a test of the integrity of public financial management within the national security architecture, the accountability of off-budget operational accounts, and the state’s ability to trace and safeguard taxpayer funds allocated to sensitive government programmes. The court’s eventual determination could set an important precedent for the oversight of classified expenditure and the management of national security finances.