In a shocking revelation, Ghana’s Attorney General, Dr. Dominic Ayine, has exposed a sophisticated payroll fraud operation involving high-ranking officials within the National Service Scheme (NSS). The disclosure was made during a press briefing on Friday, June 13, 2025, as part of the government’s continued fight against corruption under the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) initiative.
Dr. Ayine described the scheme as an “expansive criminal enterprise” carefully orchestrated by certain NSS directors who manipulated the system for personal financial gain. Central to the scandal is Gifty Owari-Mensah, a senior official who allegedly masterminded a complex plan to secure a multimillion-cedi loan using fraudulent means.
According to Dr. Ayine, “Madam Gifty Owari-Mensah, while serving as acting director, devised a plan where she used National Service Personnel allowances as security to secure a loan of 38,698,218 cedis and 69 pesewas from the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) at an interest rate of 23%.”
The Attorney General revealed that Owari-Mensah fraudulently registered a company named Blocks of Life Consult using personal information belonging to unsuspecting individuals who did not know the registration or the company’s operations.
“She created the company without the knowledge or consent of the individuals whose details were used. To further legitimize the scheme, she presented Blocks of Life Consult through an Independence of Natural Resources Acquisition Authority mentor to an official of ADB,” Dr. Ayine stated.
Her husband, Mr. Peter Mensah, a lawyer by profession, was recruited to act as one of the company’s directors, adding another layer of credibility to the fraudulent operation.
The Attorney General further explained that Owari-Mensah misrepresented the company’s operations to ADB, claiming that Blocks of Life Consult specialized in supplying home appliances to National Service Personnel. She proposed that the bank finance the company to allow it to supply the goods on a hire-purchase basis, with the NSS allegedly responsible for handling deductions and repayments directly from the service personnel.
“However,” Dr. Ayine clarified, “on the marketplace of the authority, there was no record indicating that Blocks of Life Consult was a registered vendor.”
The Attorney General emphasized that this case exemplifies the kind of high-level fraud the government aims to eliminate through the ORAL initiative, adding that investigations are still ongoing and that those found culpable will face the full rigors of the law.