The Accra High Court has given counsel for former National Signals Bureau (NSB) Director-General, Kwabena Adu-Boahene, until September 25 to file a submission of no case to answer.

This follows the prosecution's closing of its case.

The development comes as Mr Adu-Boahene and other accused persons are facing charges over the alleged diversion of GH¢49.1 million belonging to the state.

The case was brought before the court following allegations surrounding funds earmarked for the procurement of a cybersecurity system.

• Read also: Adu-Boahene trial: ‘14 days too short for credible no-case submission’ – Atta Akyea

The prosecution has now closed its case after calling four witnesses, with the final witness, Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) investigator Frank Marshall Cromwell, subjected to extensive cross-examination by defence counsel Samuel Atta Akyea.

The court’s latest direction means the defence will first argue that the prosecution has failed to establish sufficient evidence requiring Mr Adu-Boahene and the other accused persons to open their defence.

Meanwhile, his lead counsel, Samuel Atta Akyea, has raised concerns over the decision to give the defence 14 days to file its submission of no case to answer.

According to the lawyer, the period granted by the court is insufficient to enable the defence to properly review the evidence presented by the prosecution and prepare what he described as a credible no-case submission.

The prosecution alleges that GH¢49.1 million was unlawfully transferred from an account associated with the National Security Coordinator’s Special Operations into an account belonging to BNC Communications Bureau Limited, a private company linked to Mr Adu-Boahene and his wife, Angela Adjei-Boateng.

According to the prosecution’s fourth witness, three cheques totalling GH¢49.1 million were issued from the relevant account in 2020 and deposited into the private company’s account at Universal Merchant Bank (UMB).

The prosecution has argued that the funds were intended for the acquisition of a cybersecurity system from Israeli company ISC Holdings Ltd.

An EOCO investigator told the court that Mr Adu-Boahene had signed a contract with ISC Holdings Ltd on January 30, 2020, for the proposed cybersecurity system, after which three cheques were issued and paid into the private account.

The investigator further testified that the UMB account into which the funds were deposited had been opened shortly before the first cheque was issued, leading investigators to conclude that the account was created specifically to facilitate the diversion of the funds.

The prosecution has also presented evidence seeking to trace how the GH¢49.1 million was subsequently moved and spent.

However, during cross-examination, defence counsel challenged aspects of the prosecution’s financial analysis and the basis for some of the conclusions reached by EOCO investigators. For instance, the fourth prosecution witness acknowledged that some transactions being examined involved amounts exceeding the GH¢49.1 million at the centre of the case.

The defence has also questioned the prosecution’s choice of witnesses and argued that key officials involved in the National Security structure at the time should have been called to testify. Mr Atta Akyea has specifically mentioned former National Security Minister Albert Kan-Dapaah and the then National Security Coordinator.

Mr Adu-Boahene, his wife and the other accused persons have pleaded not guilty to the charges and are on bail.

The charges include stealing, conspiracy to steal, defrauding by false pretences, wilfully causing financial loss to the state, using public office for profit, money laundering and related offences.

The filing of the no-case submission will now provide the defence with an opportunity to argue that the prosecution has not established a case sufficiently strong to require the accused persons to mount a defence.