The Krachi West District Director of Education has been indicted by the Auditor-General for perpetrating fraud to the detriment of effective teaching and learning in the district.
According to the Auditor-General’s Report for the year ended 2013, the director failed to transfer GH¢114,907.95 he received as capitation grant to the basic schools in the district.
The director, with the connivance of the District Accountant, Mr Emmanuel Kpogli, withdrew GH¢58,862, representing 51 per cent of the amount, without any evidence of disbursement.
The report, however, failed to name the director involved in the fraud.
The capitation grant was instituted by the government to facilitate the transfer of funds to basic schools for the smooth running of the schools and effective teaching and learning at the basic level.
More withdrawals
The report also noted that GH¢185,228.38 was withdrawn from various accounts of the district as cash to office during the 2012 and 2013 financial years but there were no receipts or other documentary evidence of the disbursement of the entire amount.
They are the British Department of International Development (DFID), the Capitation Grant, the District Director’s Imprest (DDE), the District Basic Schools and the District Culture accounts.
It said sound financial management practice required that every payment be supported by an original voucher, which should contain full particulars of the services for which payment was being made and certified by the officer authorised to incur the expenditure.
Apart from the cheques presented for the withdrawals, there was no evidence of memos, invoices and other expenditure receipts to authenticate payments.
No payment vouchers were prepared to support the expenditure made, while the transactions were also not recorded in the cash book.
The report said the failure of the district accountant to segregate the work among the subordinate staff and the absence of the full particulars of disbursement receipts cast doubt on the transactions.
“The district director and the district accountant should be cited for fraud and held accountable for the recovery of the above amounts totalling GH¢185,228,” it said.
Payment vouchers
The report said Mr Kpogli also failed to produce, on inspection, payment vouchers covering GH¢77,621 recorded in the cash book of the DDE as expenditure incurred between January and December 2012.
“The absence of the payment vouchers and full particulars of disbursement receipts cast doubt on the transactions. We were of the opinion that this was a deliberate attempt to perpetrate fraud,” it said.
According to the report, another payment of GH¢42,750 was made on November 19, 2013 with cheque number 454951 without details of the transaction stated.
It said apart from the cheque number stated in the bank statement, there was no evidence of memos, invoices and other expenditure receipts to authenticate the payment.
“No payment voucher was prepared to support the withdrawal from the account. The payee’s name was not stated. The transaction was also not recorded in the cash book,” the report said.
It also identified the withdrawal of GH¢8,949 from the DFID account, which it described as a fictitious transaction.
It said the payment was not supported with a payment voucher but was recorded in the cash book.
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Source: Graphic Online