The Accra High Court has dealt another blow to the defence of former National Signals Bureau (NSB) Director-General Kwabena Adu-Boahene, rejecting an attempt to introduce WhatsApp messages exchanged between the accused and the prosecution’s second witness as evidence, ruling them irrelevant to the charges before the court. The ruling came as cross-examination of the prosecution’s finance witness, Edith Ruby Opokua Adumuah, continued in what is shaping up as one of Ghana’s most fiercely contested criminal trials.
During proceedings on April 2, 2026, at Criminal Court 3 of the Accra High Court, defence counsel Samuel Atta Akyea probed the witness on whether she and the accused had engaged in WhatsApp communications relating to National Security expenditure. When asked “in the course of your work with Kwabena Adu-Boahene, you engaged in numerous WhatsApp chats concerning National Security expenditure, is that not so?” the witness replied: “My Lord, I cannot remember.” The court subsequently rejected efforts to introduce those chats as part of the cross-examination, finding them without sufficient bearing on the charges.
The WhatsApp dispute was not the only evidentiary battle lost by the defence in recent sittings. On Monday, April 20, 2026, during cross-examination of the same prosecution witness, Adu-Boahene’s lawyers sought to tender a Swift transfer receipt by his private company, Advantage Solutions, in a manner that appeared to suggest it had originated from the NSB. The prosecution, led by the Deputy Attorney General, immediately raised an objection, arguing that the witness had no personal knowledge of the document as it did not emanate from her institution and therefore could not be made to answer questions based on it.
Justice Francis Achibonga upheld the objection, blocking the defence from using the receipt during cross-examination. The ruling further closed off an apparent attempt by the defence to introduce a document from a private company associated with the accused in a way that might suggest it was connected to state operations.
Yet for all its procedural setbacks, the defence has been drawing considerable evidentiary oxygen from the testimony of the prosecution’s own witness. On April 20, 2026, Adumuah confirmed under cross-examination that payments made for the Cyber Defence System were based on legitimate processes and were effected only after delivery and acceptance by National Security. She told the court that she personally processed and effected payments based on invoices submitted for the transaction, describing the procurement as a genuine special operations transaction.
Proceedings were adjourned to April 16, 20, and 21, 2026, for the continuation of cross-examination.
This development adds to a growing body of testimony from the prosecution’s own witness that defence counsel has sought to frame as contradicting the state’s narrative. Earlier in the trial on March 18, 2026, Adumuah testified under cross-examination that she had no knowledge of any alleged theft of GH¢49.1 million within the national security apparatus. She stated that she neither detected nor reported any such financial irregularity during her tenure, and that no formal complaint, management query, or adverse audit finding had ever been raised regarding the alleged missing funds. She also confirmed that the GH¢49.1 million did not form part of the annual budget she prepared for the BNC in 2020, and that the first time she heard of it was when Adu-Boahene was arrested.
Defence counsel Atta Akyea has seized on this testimony to challenge the prosecution’s characterisation of the relevant bank account. He insists the account at UMB used for the transactions is not privately owned by the accused but rather an official National Security Special Operations account. “She went there as a National Security operative to pay cheques into it. It has an account name and an account number, and it is not Kwabena Adu-Boahene’s private account,” he told the press after one sitting.
The prosecution alleges that between 2020 and 2024, Adu-Boahene and his wife masterminded a scheme to divert GH¢49.1 million intended for a cybersecurity defence software contract with an Israeli firm. Investigators claim the couple established a private company called BNC Communication Bureau Ltd, a name designed to mimic the state’s Bureau of National Communications. State funds were allegedly channelled through this entity to purchase luxury properties in Accra, Kumasi, and London, as well as a fleet of high-end vehicles.
The case is currently being heard by Justice Achibonga, who took over the trial in March 2026 after a change of judge. Adu-Boahene, his wife Angela Adjei-Boateng, and their company Advantage Solutions face 11 criminal counts, including stealing public funds, money laundering, and willfully causing financial loss to the state, all of which they have pleaded not guilty to. Cross-examination of the second prosecution witness was set to continue on April 21, 2026, with the trial widely expected to run for several more months given the volume of evidence and the sheer number of contested legal issues that have already emerged.
Attorney General Drops Charges Against Third Accused in GHS49 Million NSB Theft Case