SETTING THE RECORDS STRAIGHT :
WAS KWABENA ADU-BOAHENE A STAFF OF THE NATIONAL SIGNALS BUREAU IN 2007 AND SUBSEQUENTLY ITS DIRECTOR IN 2017? DID HE STEAL FUNDS FROM A STATE BNC TO HIS PRIVATE BNC AS CLAIMED BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL?
DID THE ATTORNEY GENERAL LIE?
The former NSB boss is standing trial for allegedly transferring some monies from a State BNC Account to his personal or privately incorporated company “private BNC” (as labelled by the Attorney-General) account between February 2020 to September 2020.
WITHOUT PREJUDICE;
1. The National Signals Bureau, an agency of the National Security Council, was established on 29th December 2020 by the National Signals Bureau Act of 2020, Act 1040. Until the act was passed to establish the National Signals Bureau as an autonomous agency, Kwabena Adu-Boahene worked as a staff and subsequently a Director in an internal unit under the National Security Coordinator’s office that was called the Bureau of National Communications (BNC), previously called the Central Technical Laboratory and Workshop (CTL/W) before the National Security leadership of Mr Francis Poku, and then later the unit was renamed Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel (rtd) Larry Gbevlo Lartey as National Security Coordinator.
This means that the Attorney General’s claim that Kwabena Adu Boahene has been a staff member of the National Signals Bureau since 2007 and subsequently its director in 2017 is a complete LIE and a deliberate attempt to misinform and mislead the public and more importantly, misrepresent the facts.
Truth, however, is that Kwabena Adu-Boahene was employed as a staff of the National Security Council Secretariat in 2007 and became Director in the Secretariat in 2017, and Director-General of the National Signals Bureau (NSB) in 2021.
As of 2007, the National Signals Bureau did not exist! It also did not exist in 2017 for Adu Boahene to be its Director. Per the AG’s claim, it means Adu Boahene was a Director of a ghost agency not recognized by law.
It is important to appreciate that this fundamental intellectual confusion by the AG is the foundation for the inaccurate facts surrounding the Kwabena Adu-Boahene trial. (Despite the transitional provisions, of the NSB Act, Director General NSB cannot be construed as Director BNC )
STATE BNC ACCOUNT – WHAT YOU MUST KNOW – THE TRUTH
The AG’s narrative in his previous press conference is that there existed a state bank account known as STATE BNC from which Kwabena Adu Boahene stole monies from. This claim, as many have been made to believe, is not only false but also fundamentally deceptive, misguided, distorted and disingenuous.
2. It is important to note that, prior to 29th December 2020, when the NSB law was promulgated, BNC only existed as an internal unit or secretariat, just like any other unit, including but not limited to human security, operations, human resource and logistics units under the National Security Coordinator’s office; therefore, it had no special operations account of its own prior to 29/12/2020.
3. Due to the nature and complexity of the National Security Coordinator’s job , the Coordinator by convention and practice operates several special operations accounts. Between 2017 and 2020 some of those accounts were operated with Fidelity Bank, one of which had an account/chequebook alias “The Director BNC”, which Kwabena Adu-Boahene was co-signatory with the Coordinator. This account was called “Coordinator’s Account-NSC” for all its intents and purposes, including account name, and its appearance in transactions.
4. It is pertinent to note that, as the account name “Coordinator’s Account- NSC” indicates and suggests, the account did not belong to the Bureau of National Communications but rather belonged to the National Security Coordinator. Kwabena Adu-Boahene was only a cosignatory to the account. This means that Kwabena Adu-Boahene could only sign cheques based on the direct instructions of the “owner” of the account, the National Security Coordinator.
Also, despite the Director BNC being a co-signatory to the account, he could not on his own volition and unilaterally access funds in the account without the signature and clearance of the National Security Coordinator, under whose pleasure Kwabena Adu-Boahene functioned. This means that there is no account operated by the National Security known as “STATE BNC”. This does not exist!!
5. The Coordinator’s Account, NSC operated by Fidelity Bank, is the account the Attorney-General/EOCO erroneously refers to as the “State BNC” account, most probably because of the sighting of cheques labelled “The Director BNC.”
It is important to appreciate that the practice with the operation or management of Government Accounts is that it is usually sanctioned by the Controller and Account General or Finance Minister and operated with the Bank of Ghana. This Coordinator’s Account, which the AG either mischievously or mistakenly refers to as State BNC, was neither sanctioned by the Finance Minister or CaAG, nor operated by the Bank of Ghana. It was fundamentally operated by a private bank for all purposes and intents.
THE “PRIVATE BNC” – WHAT YOU MUST KNOW
6. What the Attorney-General/EOCO refers to as “Private BNC” was a special operations – Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) – incorporated as B.N.C Communications Bureau Limited, duly authorized by National Security, for the security and intelligence operational considerations of the time.
7. It is trite that Ghanaian laws and convention do not allow the registration of a company with a name that is identical or confusingly similar to an existing state agency. Additionally, Ghanaian law protects the names of state agencies and institutions, preventing private entities from using similar names that could cause confusion or misrepresentation.
8. In furtherance of the above, it is also trite law that certain words, like “National” and “Government,” may require special approval and are restricted for private companies to avoid creating a false impression of government affiliation.
9. This means that Kwabena Adu-Boahene could not have incorporated a private company at the Registrar General’s Department known as “Private Bureau of National Communications” if he did not have the required clearance from his superiors at the National Security.
10. The private BNC – Bureau SPV was particularly needed for special requirements, including the resolution of the fallout from the 2016 NSO transaction, water security operations, as well as other special operations that remain classified by the National Security. This SPV was a legal entity created to isolate the National Security and to achieve specific objectives; in this context it was used to securitize assets, manage liquidity and facilitate cross-border transactions of national security, for example, the purchase of cybersecurity equipment from ISC Holdings in Israel.
11. The “Private BNC,” as labelled by the Attorney-General/EOCO, was therefore not a private enterprise that Kwabena Adu-Boahene or his affiliates benefited from, as alleged by the Attorney-General. There is no evidence to establish that there was a business or profit-making arrangement made in the running of the accounts.
12. The National Security and Intelligence agencies have operated and continue to operate private SPVs for specific special operations requirements that arise, and this practice has never been frowned on. Even today, the National Security is still running Special Purpose Vehicles for their operations.
CONCLUSION
13. All funds from the National Security Coordinator’s account inaccurately and disingenuously referred to as the state BNC account by the AG to the private BNC were for operational purposes and were never used for the personal benefits of Adu Boahene.
14. Kwabena Adu-Boahene did not have the access to directly transfer monies from the National Security Coordinator’s Account into the supposed private BNC. Even if he managed to do so, the transaction would have been red-flagged by the National Security Coordinator or the minister.
15. It is unreasonable and does not make sense for over $7 million to go missing in an account operated by the National Security Coordinator without him or the President realizing.
16. The Private BNC was not a criminal enterprise as described by the AG. It is clear that the AG was either misled or he did not understand the issues at the time of his press conference.
In my next episode, I will digest the role played by Madam Angela Adjei Boateng (wife of Mr Kwabena Adu-Boahene).
