Ex-NAFCO Boss goes to High Court, seeks review of EOCO asset-freeze order
By DL News
Published
3 min read
In an affidavit filed on 4 November 2025 by his lawyer, Richard Gyambiby of Dame and Partners, Mr Hanan argues that some of the properties listed by EOCO in its ex parte application do not belong to him, while others were acquired or develo...
Former Chief Executive of the National Food and Buffer Stock Company Limited (NAFCO), Abdul-Wahab Hanan, has asked the High Court to review an order freezing several properties the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) claims are linked to him.
In an affidavit filed on 4 November 2025 by his lawyer, Richard Gyambiby of Dame and Partners, Mr Hanan argues that some of the properties listed by EOCO in its ex parte application do not belong to him, while others were acquired or developed long before the period in which he is alleged to have committed any offences.
On 21 October 2025, Justice Kwame Gyamfi Osei of the Adentan High Court confirmed an earlier EOCO freezing order dated 2 September 2025 over four properties described as “tainted”.
The order covered:
A 0.27-acre plot of land, GPS address NS-320-6111, Estate Junction, Dagomba Street, Tamale
A 0.29-acre plot of land, GPS address NR-000-8199, Workers College, Tamale
An uncompleted storey building, GPS address NR-151-7759, Gumami, adjacent Baobab Guest House, Tamale
A three-bedroom house, GPS address NS-056-9690, Kpalsi, Tamale
In his application for review, Mr Hanan contends that EOCO has not provided credible evidence that the properties are proceeds of crime or connected to any alleged unlawful conduct. He alleges the office simply moved to freeze every asset “tangentially connected” to him, regardless of when or how it was acquired.
He maintains that the properties are not “tainted property” within the meaning of the law and that EOCO bore the burden of proving otherwise under Act 804, a burden he says was not discharged before the confirmation order was granted.
Mr Hanan states that the Kpalsi property with GPS address NS-056-9690 was bought in 2011, completed in 2013 and even used for part of his Islamic marriage ceremony that same year. He argues that this timeline predates both his appointment as NAFCO CEO and the period under investigation and therefore cannot reasonably be linked to any alleged offences.
He further denies ownership of the uncompleted storey building at Gumami (GPS NR-151-7759), located near the Baobab Guest House, insisting he has no legal or beneficial interest in that property and that it should not have been frozen in proceedings directed at him.
On the 0.27-acre plot at Estate Junction, Dagomba Street (GPS NS-320-6111), Mr Hanan says the land belonged to Al-Qarni Enterprise, an entity in which he holds no interest. According to his affidavit, Al-Qarni Enterprise transferred its interest in the property to OSGAF Furniture Enterprise in 2022, before the EOCO investigations began.
Mr Hanan’s legal team argues that EOCO failed to satisfy the statutory requirements under Act 804 and Ghanaian law generally for the confirmation of a freezing order, rendering the order “null, void and of no effect”.
They contend that to the extent the order covers assets he says were acquired in 2013, prior to his employment with NAFCO, it infringes his constitutional right to own property under Article 20 of the 1992 Constitution.
He also claims that the orders breach his right to be presumed innocent, noting that he has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and that the freezing measures are disproportionate and intrusive. In addition, he argues that his rights to a fair hearing, property, privacy and the presumption of innocence have all been compromised by the breadth of the order.
Lawyers for Mr Hanan are expected to move the motion on Thursday, 18 December 2025.
