At least four staff of the National Service Authority (NSA) have been interdicted following investigations by the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) into a widening payroll fraud scandal at the state-run agency.
The acting Director General of the NSS, Felix Gyamfi, confirmed the interdictions during an interview on Saturday, June 13.
He explained that the disciplinary actions were based on intelligence received from the NIB, which uncovered irregularities involving personnel within the scheme.
“As the NIB brought names, I acted on them. We’ve interdicted about four people,” Mr Gyamfi disclosed. “Further names were brought yesterday and I have taken action on them as well.”
He noted that investigations are ongoing, with more revelations expected as the Scheme continues its efforts to purge payroll fraud and rebuild public trust.
Mr Gyamfi’s comments came hours after Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, described the NSS payroll scandal as part of a broader “criminal enterprise” that has cost Ghana more than GH¢548 million in recent years.
Speaking at a press briefing in Accra on Friday, June 13, Dr Ayine said the financial loss was uncovered under the government’s Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) initiative.
He alleged that the scheme was orchestrated by a network of senior NSS officials—including district directors, payroll officers, and top executives.
In the 2022/2023 service year, GH¢350,926,977.12 was lost to the state. For the 2023/2024 service year, GH¢32,881,157.07 was lost. In total, the state lost about GH¢548,333,542.65 to this criminal enterprise,” Dr Ayine revealed.
Over GH¢550,000 recovered
As part of the scheme’s internal recovery efforts, Mr Gyamfi disclosed that over GH¢550,000 has already been retrieved from individuals who fraudulently received national service allowances while holding full-time jobs elsewhere.
“These were people already on the payroll of other organisations but still drawing national service allowances. That has stopped,” he stated. “Some have voluntarily started paying back the money, and so far, we’ve recovered over GH¢550,000.”
He emphasised that the recovery process remains ongoing, and more culprits are expected to refund the illicit funds.
