A member of pressure group Occupy Ghana, Ace Anan Ankomah has commended the decision to surcharge some 11 persons indicted in the Auditor General report for misappropriating state funds.
The individuals are expected to refund the money with interest according to the Bank of Ghana rate.
The Auditor General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo had stated that many more people will be served surcharge notice in the coming days, adding that his outfit is committed to implementing the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Mr. Ankomah, who is also a Private Legal Practitioner on Eyewitness News indicated that the move is a “good start” in retrieving monies belonging to the state.
“It is significant because it is the start. If after three four five we are still at eleven then we will have cause for concern but right now I think it is a good and extremely significant and symbolic start.”
The Supreme Court in June 2017 ordered the Auditor General to surcharge persons found to have misappropriated monies belonging to the state.
The seven-member panel of justices, presided over by incoming Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo, did not give reasons for their judgment at the time.
The order followed a suit filed by pressure group, Occupy Ghana in June 2016, seeking an order that would direct the Auditor-General to issue disallowances and surcharges to and in respect of all persons and entities found in relevant, successive reports to have engaged in misappropriation of state funds.
Over GHc40 billion lost in ‘irregularities
Occupy Ghana had earlier indicated in a statement that a thorough study of the Auditor General report revealed that between 2003 and 2014, the total losses the state incurred in “irregularities” arising from Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies was about GH¢2,448,968,912.29.
“This is alarming, more so when we discovered further that for just the four years, 2009 and 2012 to 2014, amounts lost to Ghana from “irregularities” in Public Boards, Corporations and other Statutory Institutions was Five Billion, Seventy Two Million, Six Hundred and Eighty Six Thousand and Seven Hundred and Sixteen Ghana Cedis (GH¢5,072,686,716). From our projections, since the promulgation of the Constitution, the total losses to Ghana arising from “irregularities” in Public Offices, Central and Local Government Administration, Public Institutions, Public Corporations and Statutory Bodies, possibly exceeds Forty Billion Ghana Cedis (GH¢40,000,000,000),” the statement said.
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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