Accra: Lawyer Kwesi Botchway Jnr has accused Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Dr Justice Srem-Sai of engaging in a misinformation and disinformation campaign against the accused persons in the ongoing trial of former Director-General of the National Signals Bureau (NSB), Kwabena Adu-Boahene and his wife, Angela Adjei Boateng. According to him, comments made by the Deputy Attorney-General during an appearance on Joy News were inaccurate and inconsistent with evidence presented before the court.
According to Ghana Web, Botchway expressed his concerns through a Facebook statement on August 18, 2026. He stated that while the Deputy Attorney-General was entitled to comment on cases being prosecuted by his office, he found it troubling that some of the assertions made in the interview did not accord with the evidence on record. Botchway highlighted that the Deputy Attorney-General's discussion on PM Express included claims that contradicted the evidence provided in court.
Botchway further accused the Deputy Attorney-General of contradicting his own previous stance against lawyers discussing the merits of ongoing cases. He noted that the Deputy Attorney-General had previously admonished lawyers against discussing case merits but had, in this instance, gone beyond commenting on the case by discussing its merits, demerits, and even possible defences of the accused persons.
The lawyer specifically criticized the Deputy Attorney-General's account of events concerning a Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) account linked to BNC Operations, known as the 'Private BNC' account. Botchway pointed out discrepancies in the Deputy Attorney-General's suggestion that a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) filed in 2020 led to the account's closure. He emphasized that the evidence presented in court during cross-examination by EOCO investigator Frank Marshal Cromwell told a different story.
Botchway detailed that Cromwell's testimony revealed the alleged STR concerned a single transaction involving GHS7.2 million and that the funds were eventually transferred to ISC Holdings of Israel for a cyber-defence system purchase. Cromwell reportedly testified that UMB did not find the account or transactions suspicious. Additionally, Botchway noted that no independent confirmation from the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) regarding the alleged STR was provided.
The timeline surrounding the UMB account's closure further questioned the Deputy Attorney-General's account. Botchway argued that the account's closure in March 2023, three years after the alleged STR, suggested no direct causal relationship between the report and the account's closure. He concluded that the evidence did not support the claim that the account was closed due to the alleged STR.
Botchway criticized the Deputy Attorney-General for presenting information to the public that he believed was inconsistent with court evidence. He emphasized that public commentary on ongoing prosecutions should not create unsupported facts and stressed the importance of accurate public information, asserting that the court's proceedings should determine the case facts.