No bail for NSS boss

• Posted on October 28, 2014October 28, 2014
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

For the second time, an Accra circuit court has declined a bail application filed by the defence counsel for Alhaji Alhassan Imoro,

the embattled Executive Director of the National Service Secretariat (NSS), who is standing trial over alleged stealing.

That was after the prosecutor, DSP Abraham A. Annor, had prayed the court to remand the accused person because the police had not completed their investigations.

He said in view of the volume of work to be done, it was only appropriate that the court kept the accused away from the people the
prosecution might contact and the documents it might require for the trial.

The NSS boss is alleged to have stolen GH¢86.9 million belonging to the Government of Ghana, from September 2013 to July 2014, at the NSS headquarters in Accra.

According to the prosecution, investigation so far revealed that for every month – starting from September 2013 to July this year – an amount of GH¢7.9 million was paid to 22,612 nonexistent or ‘ghost’ service persons.

It will be recalled that the governing board of the NSS recently directed the management of the Scheme, headed by Alhaji Imoro, to
proceed on leave with immediate effect.

Other officers affected were his two deputies – Michael Kombor, in-charge of Finance & Administration and Madam Sophia Karen Akuako, in-charge of Operations, who were later recalled.

Headquarters staff – Fiifi Asubonteng, Director of IT; Alhassan Iddrisu, Director, PPME and Ms Gloria Aku Mensah, Acting Internal Auditor; were also asked to step aside.

Furthermore, the Greater Accra Regional Director, Seth
Asiedu, and all other officers of the Scheme whose names had so far been cited in the ongoing investigations, had been affected by the ‘step
aside’ directive.

Allegations
The decision followed allegations that Alhaji Alhassan Imoro had attempted to offer GH¢200,000 bribe to security officials investigating widespread corruption in the NSS.

He is reported to have paid GH¢100,000 in his attempt to silence operators of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to conceal the GH¢7.9 million monthly financial fraud at the NSS.

The investigations became necessary following reports that a total of GH¢7.9 million was paid to 22,612 non-existent national service
persons in more than 100 districts in July 2014.

Trial
But at the trial in a court presided over by Francis Obiri, counsel for the accused, Dennis Adjei Dwumor, disagreed to the request of the prosecutor that the court should further remand the NSS boss because it had not completed its investigations.

Describing the call as a ‘broken record’ replayed in the court, he stated that Alhaji Imoro is not currently at post and wondered how the accused could interfere with police investigation.

While reminding the court that the prosecution made a similar request at the first hearing of the case, counsel said the police should have completed gathering every information they required for the trial by
now.

Mr. Adjei Dwumor noted that the regional and district directors of the scheme who were arrested, had been granted bail and wondered,
“How much more us?”

The trial judge however, upheld the application of the prosecution and remanded Alhaji Imoro into BNI custody, indicating that a ruling
on the application for bail would be delivered on Nov. 3, 2014.

He said the accused should be given access to his family and relatives as well as his lawyers within the hours of 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Mr. Obiri also ordered that Alhaji Imoro be put on special diet in respect of his health conditions.

Meanwhile, the former NSS boss has pleaded not guilty to the charge of stealing.