Former NAFCO Boss and Wife Face 20 Criminal Counts Over Alleged GH¢54 Million Fraud
Fresh charges filed at the Accra High Court have placed former National Food and Buffer Stock Company Chief Executive Officer Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba and his wife, Faiza Seidu Wuni, at the centre of a sweeping financial crimes case involving alleged irregularities totalling tens of millions of Ghana cedis.
The charge sheet, filed by the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice on May 15, 2026, contains 20 counts spanning stealing, defrauding by false pretences, wilfully causing financial loss to the state, abuse of public office for profit, dishonestly receiving, and money laundering.
The new charges follow the re-arrest of both individuals by operatives of the Economic and Organised Crime Office shortly after they had been discharged by the High Court in an earlier related case.
According to prosecutors, the former NAFCO boss allegedly obtained GH¢734,400 — the cedi equivalent of approximately US$127,500 — from the state agency in 2017 under the guise of rent payments purportedly covering the period between May 2017 and May 2019.
The state contends the representation was false and constitutes defrauding by false pretence under the Criminal Offences Act.
The bulk of the allegations, however, centre on payments allegedly made through a private entity called Sawtina Enterprise.
Prosecutors claim that between February 2017 and February 2025, Mr Aludiba diverted approximately GH¢50.8 million from NAFCO under the pretext of foodstuff purchases from one James Tieku-Apawu, trading as Sawtina Enterprise.
The state describes the transactions as stealing and abuse of public office for personal gain.
A further set of charges relates to payments allegedly channelled from NAFCO to Alqarni Enterprise, a business the prosecution identifies as belonging to the accused’s wife. Between September 2018 and August 2019, the charge sheet alleges that more than GH¢3.34 million was paid to the enterprise for purported food supply transactions that prosecutors describe as fraudulent.
Faiza Seidu Wuni faces separate charges of defrauding by false pretence, dishonestly receiving, and money laundering. Prosecutors allege she falsely represented that her business had supplied food items to NAFCO and knowingly received funds believed to have been acquired through unlawful means.
The money laundering charge, filed under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2020, accuses her of taking possession of the funds while allegedly aware of their criminal origin.
The case has attracted considerable public attention, in part due to complaints raised by the defence. Former Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame, who is representing the former NAFCO CEO, accused EOCO investigators of denying the accused access to legal counsel following their re-arrest and of refusing bail despite existing court processes.
He also described the prosecution’s conduct as an abuse of discretion and alleged his clients were subjected to what he termed pre-trial torture and harassment.
The matter is expected to return to court shortly as prosecutors move to formally proceed with the new charges.
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