Ex-director tells court she handled transactions for Adu-Boahene and wife

The trial of former National Signals Bureau boss Kwabena Adu-Boahene continued on Tuesday with a former company director telling the High Court that she managed bank accounts and carried out transactions on behalf of him and his wife, Angela Adjei Boateng.

Mildred Donkor, the third prosecution witness, said one of the companies linked to the accused persons was BNC Communications Bureau Limited, which she came to know around 2018 as part of what she described as their growing business operations.

Giving evidence before Justice Achibonga, she said her role involved handling payments, withdrawals and transfers for the accused persons across several company accounts.

According to her, when cheque books for BNC were not yet ready, money was moved into other company accounts, including Advantage Solutions Limited and Vertex Properties Limited, to allow transactions to continue. She told the court that this was not unusual in banking operations.

Once cheque books became available, she said, payments were made directly to third parties and, in some cases, to her personally, after which the money was handed over to the accused persons.

Much of the spending, she added, related to the purchase of building materials such as cement and iron rods. Because of the volume of transactions, she said she kept her own records in an Excel spreadsheet and in a handwritten notebook to help with reconciliation.

Donkor said most of the instructions came verbally from Adu-Boahene, though she occasionally received directions from the second accused as well. She explained that the transactions were often described to her as loans, which made record-keeping necessary so repayments could be tracked.

The prosecution, led by Deputy Attorney-General Justice Srem-Sai, attempted to tender the Excel records, but that move was postponed after the defence asked for time to study fresh disclosures. A notebook containing handwritten entries, however, was admitted without objection.

The witness also told the court that some of the money was sent to Margaret Ama Donkor, identified as the mother of the first accused, in connection with a building project at Asokore in Kumasi.

A photograph of that project led to argument in court after the defence challenged its authenticity, contending that the witness had never personally visited the site. The court rejected that objection and admitted the photo, holding that her identification of the project was enough for that stage of the proceedings.

Donkor further testified that withdrawals were often made through pre-signed cheque books already signed by the accused persons. She said she filled in the cheque leaves according to instructions and then presented them at the bank or arranged transfers.

She identified 12 cheque books linked to accounts belonging to Advantage Solutions Limited, BNC Communications Bureau Limited and Vertex Properties Limited, all held at branches of Universal Merchant Bank.

The court heard that she played a direct part in completing the cheque leaves and carrying out the transactions herself or through others, depending on the instructions she received.