The High Court in Tamale has convicted six individuals for their roles in a payroll fraud scheme within the Ghana Education Service that led to the illegal payment of salaries to a former teacher.
The convictions were secured through a plea bargaining agreement initiated by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), resulting in full repayment and restitution of the misappropriated funds.
The convicted individuals—including headteachers, payroll officers, and accountants—collaborated to unlawfully validate and reinstate salary payments for Tahidu Yakubu, a former teacher who left his position in 2022 to assume a new role at MASLOC in the North-East Region.
Despite vacating his post, Yakubu continued to receive salaries due to deliberate actions by the co-conspirators.
From August 2022 to January 2023, Yakubu received GH₵16,416.89 in net salary, even though he had stopped working at Balogu Junior High School in Yendi.
An OSP investigation uncovered a deliberate scheme to exploit salary validation processes. The fourth accused, former headmaster Mohammed Yusif Jay, illegally validated Yakubu’s employment status, while the third accused, Schools Improvement Support Officer Sammy Suuk, confirmed those validations.
In January 2024, attempts were made to retroactively reinstate Yakubu’s salary for an eight-month period, resulting in an additional GH₵47,064.34 being paid out.
According to the OSP’s findings, the coordinated actions of the accused led the State to lose a total of GH₵86,318.95 in unearned gross salary payments to Yakubu.
On 30 April 2025, the High Court in Tamale accepted the plea agreement, ordering total restitution and reparation amounting to GH₵106,319.64—all of which has now been recovered.
Under Section 71 of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959), the plea deal also required the accused to confidentially provide further information to assist in ongoing prosecutions. Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng confirmed these disclosures were made to both his office and the court.
These convictions are part of a broader campaign to clean up Ghana’s public payroll system. Launched in November 2023 by the OSP and the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department, the Government Payroll Administration investigation is currently in its first phase, focusing on the Ghana Education Service and Ghana Health Service.
Future phases will extend to payrolls across Ministries, Departments, Agencies, and all levels of local government.
The OSP also revealed that six additional criminal cases are ongoing in Accra, Tamale, and Kumasi, with further prosecutions anticipated as the investigation progresses.
“This marks a renewed commitment to holding corrupt public officials accountable and reclaiming every cedi lost to payroll fraud,” said Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng.
