An investigator in the alleged cyber software theft case involving former Director-General of the National Signals Bureau (NSB), Kwabena Adu-Boahene, has told the Accra High Court that the NSB never received the cyber defence system for which GH¢49.1 million was spent.

An EOCO staff officer, Frank Marshall Cromwell, who is leading investigations in the case, made the disclosure while being led in evidence by the Deputy Attorney General.

He told the court that on January 30, 2020, Mr Adu-Boahene, acting as Director of the NSB, signed an international contract, purportedly on behalf of the Government of Ghana, with the Israeli firm ISC Holdings Limited for the purchase of a cyber defence system.

According to the investigator, GH¢49.1 million was subsequently transferred from the NSB account to an account belonging to BNC Communications Limited–Operations, ostensibly to pay for the contract.

Investigations, however, revealed that the account belonged to a private company owned and controlled by Mr Adu-Boahene and his wife.

Mr Cromwell said only GH¢9,537,500, equivalent to US$1.75 million, was eventually transferred to ISC Holdings, after which no further payments were made to the company.

He told the court that the remaining funds were allegedly withdrawn and used for personal purposes.

“The Bank records show that from the time the GH¢49.1 million was lodged into BNC Communications Bureau-Operations Bank account, A1 on February 6, 2020, made a bank transfer of the sum of GH¢9,537,500, equivalent to $1,750,000 to ISC Holdings.

"No further payments were made to ISC Holdings from this account. A1 then went on a spending spree, making substantial cash withdrawals from the account for personal purposes.

"This continued until the account was depleted, after which he instructed the Bank to close the account and transfer any remaining funds to A4, a company of his.”

The investigator further stated that despite the transfer and expenditure of the GH¢49.1 million, the cyber defence system was never supplied to the NSB.

“Our investigation established that ISC Holdings Limited did not deliver the cyber defence system to the NSB, and that NSB does not have the cyber defence system in its inventory.”

Mr Adu-Boahene, his wife Angela Boateng, and Advantage Solutions Limited (ASL) are standing trial over allegations that they misappropriated GH¢49 million earmarked for the acquisition of government cybersecurity software.

Prosecutors allege the funds were channelled through a network of companies before ending up in ASL and were later used to acquire properties in Accra, Kumasi and London.