Alleged GH¢39.46m diversion...Adu-Boahene, wife arrested - Deal was on state cyber defence software

The immediate past Director-General of the National Signals Bureau (NSB), formerly Bureau of National Communications (BNC), Kwabena Adu-Boahene, and his wife, Angela Adjei-Boateng, are under investigation for allegedly diverting GH¢39.46 million into their private company in a $7 million deal to purchase a cyber-defence software for the state. 

Addressing a news conference yesterday on the arrest of the two and other public officials under the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) investigation report, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice (A-G), Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, said Mr Adu-Boahene was arrested at the Kotoka International Airport when, together with the wife, they disembarked from a flight after a trip abroad.

Details 

Dr Ayine said while serving as the Director-General of BNC in 2018, Mr Adu-Boahene and his wife incorporated a private company with the name “BNC Communication Bureau Limited”, a name similar to the then BNC.

 Dominic Ayine (right), Minister for Justice and Attorney-General, interacting with Dr Justice Srem-Sai (2nd from left), the Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, during the media briefing in Accra. With them is Felix Kwakye Ofosu (left), Government Spokesperson. Picture: SAMUEL TEI ADANO 

The company, the Attorney-General said, had Mr Adu-Boahene and his wife listed as directors, and they proceeded to open a corporate account for their Private BNC at Universal Merchant Bank (UMB).

He added that according to the mandate of the account, either of the directors could sign cheques and approve transactions on the account.

Contract

The A-G disclosed that in January 2020, Mr Adu-Boahene signed a contract on behalf of the government and the National Security Council, on one hand, and, on the other hand, an Israeli company called ISC Holdings Ltd.

The $7-million contract, the A-G said, was for the purchase of a software called “Cyber Defence System”.

The A-G revealed that Mr Adu-Boahene transferred GH¢27.1 million from the state’s BNC Operations Account at Fidelity Bank to his Private BNC account at UMB Bank.

“Official documentation on the transfer reveals that the amount was for the payment of the software which the country’s BNC was buying from ISC Holdings in Israel.

Mr Adu-Boahene, in effect, transferred the money from the national BNC to his private company,” Dr Ayine said. 

He added that a review of the transactions on the bank accounts revealed that once the funds from national BNC landed in Mr Adu-Boahene’s private company account at UMB Bank, he caused his private company to transfer GH¢9.53 million to ISC Holdings Ltd.

To justify the transfer to ISC Holdings, the A-G alleged that Mr Adu-Boahene fraudulently attached a copy of the contract as well as an invoice which he held out as invoice issued by ISC Holding Limited. 

Another transfer

On March 18 and March 30, 2020 respectively, Mr Adu-Boahene again transferred GH¢1 million and GH¢21 million from the state’s BNC Directors’ Account at Fidelity Bank to the same Private BNC Account at UMB, purporting to be payments for the software that the state was purchasing, Dr Ayine told journalists.

The transfers from the state’s BNC bank account, the A-G said, brought the total transfers into Mr Adu-Boahene’s private company account to GH¢49 million, adding that all the payments referenced the invoice number from ISC Holdings to the state’s BNC.

Dr Ayine said after the initial transfer of GH¢9.53 million from Dr Adu-Boahene’s private BNC company to ISC Holding, no further payments were made to ISC Holdings.

After this, the A-G alleged, Mr Adu-Boahene and his wife began applying the rest of the funds for their personal use, making transfers to local third parties, making personal investments as well as transfers to unknown persons.

The A-G said the remaining GH¢39.46 million was with Mr Adu-Boahene and his wife for no lawful work done. 

Investigations 

Dr Ayine stated that investigations established that the ultimate Beneficial Owner (BO) of Mr Adu-Boahene’s private BNC Communication Bureau Limited was another company known as Advantage Solutions Limited, explaining that “10 other companies are, through a very complex web of shareholding and directorship, connected to Mr Adu-Boahene and his wife”.

He said investigations had also established that monies, mostly alleged proceeds of crime, from the Advantage Solutions Limited, BNC Communication Bureau Limited, and other similar sources, had been transmitted under very suspicious circumstances through the bank accounts of those companies.

Again, Dr Ayine said investigations also revealed movements of “huge sums of monies in both local and foreign currencies across multiple companies under circumstances which should have alerted the banks”.

The A-G said investigations also established that proceeds from the suspect’s activities were used allegedly to buy landed properties and other assets worth more than $2.51 million in Ghana and elsewhere. 

ORAL cases

On the ORAL report submitted to his office on February 2025, Dr Ayine said significant work was going on into allegations of looting of state resources contained in the report.

He said investigations would conclude in the National Service Scheme (NSS) and Skytrain scandals by the middle of next month for prosecution to begin.

In the NSS scandal, the A-G said eight suspects had been interrogated, saying a good number of them had cooperated with the National Investigation Bureau (NIB).

“Indeed, we now have evidence of payments that were made into the accounts of the top executives of the NSS by vendors and staff of the scheme.

“We also have evidence that in November 2024, the CEO and others paid a Ghanaian MP to kill the story in the media and to defend them, “he said, adding that the claim was a developing story.

In respect of Skytrain, the A-G revealed that $2 million was paid at the request of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Ekumfi, and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Solomon Asamoah, who was currently hiding in Senegal.

The A-G’s office, he said, had tracked him and noticed he had been in South Africa since February 2, this year.

“There was no board approval for the transaction and the conditions precedent for disbursement had not been met.

The other board members and our review of the minutes of the board of directors have confirmed this fact,” he said.