{"id":341560,"date":"2017-08-03T06:20:03","date_gmt":"2017-08-03T06:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=341560"},"modified":"2017-08-03T06:20:03","modified_gmt":"2017-08-03T06:20:03","slug":"ags-moves-to-retrieve-looted-cash-significant-ace-ankomah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/08\/ags-moves-to-retrieve-looted-cash-significant-ace-ankomah\/","title":{"rendered":"AG’s moves to retrieve ‘looted cash’ significant – Ace Ankomah"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

The individuals are expected to refund the money with interest according to the Bank of\u00a0Ghana\u00a0rate.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n

Mr. Ankomah, who is also a Private Legal Practitioner \u00a0on Eyewitness News<\/strong>\u00a0indicated that the move is a \u201cgood start\u201d in retrieving monies belonging to the state.<\/p>\n

\"Auditor-General,
Auditor-General, Daniel Domelovo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt is significant because it is the start. If after three four five we are still at eleven then \u00a0we will have cause for concern but right now I think it is a good and extremely significant and symbolic start.”<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court in\u00a0June 2017 ordered\u00a0the\u00a0Auditor\u00a0General to surcharge persons found to have misappropriated monies belonging to the state.<\/p>\n

The seven-member panel of justices, presided over by incoming Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo, did not give reasons for their judgment at the time.<\/p>\n

The order followed a\u00a0suit\u00a0filed by pressure group, Occupy\u00a0Ghana\u00a0in June 2016, seeking an order that would direct the\u00a0Auditor-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.<\/p>\n

Over GHc40 billion lost in \u2018irregularities<\/strong><\/p>\n

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 \u201cirregularities\u201d arising from Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies was about GH\u00a22,448,968,912.29.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is alarming, more so when we discovered further that for just the four years, 2009 and 2012 to 2014, amounts lost to Ghana from \u201cirregularities\u201d 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\u00a25,072,686,716). From our projections, since the promulgation of the Constitution, the total losses to Ghana arising from \u201cirregularities\u201d in Public Offices, Central and Local Government Administration, Public Institutions, Public Corporations and Statutory Bodies, possibly exceeds Forty Billion Ghana Cedis (GH\u00a240,000,000,000),\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

By: Marian Ansah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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