Private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu, has described the return of former Deputy Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), Gifty Oware-Mensah, as a major step forward in the ongoing investigation into the NSS corruption scandal.

Speaking on her arrival in Ghana, Mr Kpebu noted that there had been concerns about whether authorities would have to initiate extradition proceedings, as reports suggested she was in the United States.

“It’s a big step forward in the investigation because until her return, I was wondering if we were going to do extradition.

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"At a point, we heard she was in the USA so for her to have come back by herself, it’s a huge step forward. It’s saved us a lot of embarrassment and stress and hassle of trying to get her back from wherever she was,” he stated on JoyNews PM Express on Tuesday, March 3.

He further suggested that Ms Oware-Mensah’s voluntary return could indicate a willingness to prove her innocence.

“It tells you that perhaps she is willing to come and show that she is innocent, though lawyers will tell you that she doesn’t have an obligation to prove her innocence,” he added.

Mr Kpebu also weighed in on the severity of the NSS scandal, highlighting the large scale of alleged fraud.

“The NSS case is easily opened. The reason is that the numbers involved are huge—that’s the ghost names. About 81,000 names disappeared suddenly, and with such a drastic change, it certainly was pointing to a case that should be easy to crack and also save us lots of money,” he said.

Mr Kpebu added that the case is now in the hands of the Attorney-General, Dr. Dominic Ayine, who has found merit in pursuing it further.