Stop Order That Froze My 2013 Properties – Hanan Runs To Court

Former Chief Executive Officer of the National Food and Buffer Stock Company Limited (NAFCO), Abdul-Wahab Hanan, has applied for review of a Court order that froze several properties that the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) suspected belonged to him.

According to the affidavit in support of the application filed by lawyers for Abdul-Wahab Hanan on 4 November 2025, several properties that were listed by EOCO in its ex parte application praying the court for the freezing orders were either not for the accused person, or they were built or acquired way before the crimes he is alleged to have committed.]

 

The Order

EOCO obtained an order for the confirmation of freezing of some four properties under the hand of Justice Kwame Gyamfi Osei, presiding judge at the Adentan High Court, on 21 October 2025.

“This court confirms the freezing order of the applicant dated 2/09/2025 of the Tainted Properties of the Respondent (Abdul-Wahab Hanan);

1. 0.27 Acre Plot of Land of GPS Address NS-320-6111, Estate Junction, Dagomba Street, Tamale
2. 0.29 Acre Plot of Land of GPS Address NR-000-8199, Workers College, Tamale.
3. Uncompleted Storey Building of GPS Address NR-151-7759 Gumami, Adjacent Baobab Guest House, Tamale
4. Three Bedroom House of GPS Address NS-056-9690, Kpalsi. Tamale,” the Court order read.

Hanan Contention

However, in his contention seeking a review, Abdul-Wahab Hanan urged that the allegation by EOCO of criminal conduct in the acquisition of the properties in question is not founded on any credible evidence presented to the Court and that EOCO was merely actuated by a desire to freeze every property tangentially connected to him, whether related to the period in public office or not.

“The properties frozen are not tainted property and were not derived either directly or indirectly from proceeds of crime. EOCO, with respect, bore the burden of establishing that they are tainted property, as a statutory precondition for the grant of the orders, the subject matter of this application.

“The confirmation order obtained by EOCO includes property I lawfully acquired in 2013, long before my appointment as CEO of NAFCO and the entire period of investigation for the alleged offences and, therefore, cannot have any conceivable nexus to the matters purportedly being investigated by EOCO,” the Affidavit of Hanan read in part.

“My property with GPS Address NS-056-9690, Kpalsi, Tamale, was acquired by me in 2011. I completed construction of the house thereon in 2013 and performed a part of my marriage ceremony in my Islamic marriage to my wife in 2013 in that house.

“I categorically state that the Uncompleted Storey Building with GPS Address NR-151-7759, Gumami, Adjacent Baobab Guest House, Tamale mentioned in the freezing order does not belong to me and therefore cannot lawfully form the subject of a freezing order issued against me.

“I do not have any legal or beneficial interest in the property described as the 0.27 Acre Plot of Land of GPS Address NS-320. 61 1 1, Estate Junction, Dagomba Street, Tamale, as it was the property of Al-Qarni Enterprise, an entity in which I have no interest,” the former NAFCO CEO further stated in his affidavit.

“The said Al-Qarni Enterprise transferred full ownership of its interest in the property to OSGAF Furniture Enterprise in 2022, long before the purported investigations commenced.

 

Reliefs Sought

“Failure of EOCO to state and prove the essential factors specified by Act 804 and Ghanaian law in general, for a grant of a confirmation order as the one in question, renders the order obtained null, void, and of no effect.

“To the extent that the orders affected properties of mine acquired in 2013, long before I was employed as a staff of NAFCO, the same violate my right to own property enshrined in Article 20 of the Constitution,” Hanan posited in his argument put before the court.

“The orders further violate my constitutional right to presumption of innocence since I have pleaded not guilty and reiterated my innocence of all charges against me.

“The freezing orders obtained by EOCO are disproportionate and violate my constitutional rights to a hearing, to own property, to privacy, and to presumption of innocence,” the former NAFCO CEO further posited.

Lawyers for Abdul-Wahab Hanan, Dame and Partners, are expected to move the motion on Thursday, 18 December 2025, for a review of the order of the court dated 21 October 2025, which resulted in the freezing of the four properties.