I delivered all monies to NSB office, not Adu-Boahene’s home – AG witness – Nsemkeka
A key prosecution witness in the ongoing case involving Kwabena Adu-Boahene, a former Director General of the National Signal Bureau (NSB), has testified that all monies he withdrew were delivered to the National Signals Bureau (NSB) office in Labone, not to Adu-Boahene’s private residence.
The witness, Frank Anane Dekpey, who served as a driver at the NSB, made the declaration in a sworn witness statement presented to the court on Tuesday.
Dekpey detailed that he routinely executed banking errands on behalf of his superiors, withdrawing substantial sums of money, which he says were always taken directly to the NSB premises.
“At no point did I deliver any of the withdrawn monies to Mr. Adu-Boahene’s house,” Dekpey’s statement read. “All funds went straight to the NSB office in Labone.”
According to Frank Anane Dekpey, he was often instructed by the third accused person (Mildred Donkor) to deposit or withdraw money from UMB Bank and Stanbic Bank, which would then be delivered to the NSB office.
The witness also testified that they would sometimes collect money from the Labone branch of UMB Bank and make deposits and withdrawals from the Airport branch of Stanbic Bank on Adu-Boahene’s instructions.
“A3 (Mildred Donkor) often sends me to deposit or withdraw money at UMB Bank or Stanbic Bank to be given to A1. I usually send the money to A1 at the NSB office near Metro TV in Labone.
“I used to collect money from the Labone branch of UMB bank. I also make deposits and withdrawals from the airport branch of Stanbic Bank on the instructions of A3. I either took the money I withdrew from these banks to A1 or back to A3. I do not recall ever sending the money I withdrew to A2.
I never took any money from Mrs Adu Boahene. He stated that all monies withdrawn from the bank were taken directly to the NSB office. In many of the instances, the cheques which A3 gave were sealed in an envelope.
Finance director testimony
Edith Ruby Opokua Adumuah, the Director of Finance at NSB, corroborated the mechanics of the transfers. She testified that as the custodian of BNC’s cheque books, she was instructed by A1 to write cheques for large sums, with the payee ambiguously described as “BNC Operations”.
“Also, on March 18, 2020, A1 instructed me to write a cheque for One Million Ghana cedis (GH¢1,000,000.00) to be drawn on BNC’s “The Director BNC” account at Fidelity Bank.
“Then, on March 30, 2020, I wrote another cheque for Twenty-One Million Ghana Cedis (GH¢21,000,000.00), also, to be drawn on the BNC’s “The Director BNC” account at Fidelity Bank. I wrote this third cheque, too, on the instructions of Al. I wrote the second and third cheques also with “BNC Operations” as the payee.
After A1 and the late Joshua Kyeremeh had signed, A1 then gave me an account number and directed me to deposit the two cheques into the “BNC Operations” bank account at UMB Bank.
She noted that all cheques withdrawn from 2018 to 2020 were authorised and approved by late Joshua Kyeremeh (National Security Coordinator) NOT Kwabena Adu Boahene.
Also, she stated that Operational Accounts of BNC were managed by the Director of BNC and supervised by the National Security Coordinator.
“I complied with Al’s directive, believing that the ‘BNC Operations’ bank account was an additional BNC operational account, which I did not have the security clearance to know.
“I can identify the copies of cheque numbered 020086 for GH¢27,100,000.00, cheque numbered 020089 for GH¢1,000,000.00, and cheque numbered 020094 for GH¢21,000,000.00 to the honourable Court.”