Auditor-General recovers GH¢67.32million through surcharge in 2018
The Auditor-General made progress in year 2018 in relation to Disallowance and Surcharge by successfully recovering a total of GH¢67.32milion into government chest.
The total of GH¢67,315,066.12 which has been recovered into government chest followed the issuance of 112 Surcharge Certificates to individuals and organisations within the year 2018.
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The recoveries were from public officers, individuals and institutions who committed financial infractions in the course of performing their duties.
This follows audit reports that declined recognition of the GH¢5.48 billion liabilities charged on the government purse, approving only GH¢6.33 billion, out of the total bill of GH¢11.81 billion Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) submitted to the Ministry of Finance for payments in 2016.
Those who authorised those payments or fraudulently misappropriated funds were therefore surcharged in accordance with the law, which resulted in the recoveries.
The Auditor-General has since submitted its Special Report on the Disallowance and Surcharge as of November 30, 2018 to Parliament.
The report, which is in fulfillment of the provision of Article 187 of the 1992 Constitution was submitted to Parliament on December 31.
The report seeks to draw the attention of Parliament and the citizenry to progress made by the Ghana Audit Service on Disallowance and Surcharge after the landmark decision of the Supreme Court on June 14, 2017 [OccupyGhana vs. Attorney General].
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court in June 2017 ordered the Auditor-General to surcharge anyone that it founds to have misappropriated public funds.
Per the court judgment, the Auditor-General must act on its annual report and take steps to retrieve any public fund found to have been misappropriated.
The judgment was in relation to a case filed by the pressure group, OccupyGhana following a campaign it had initiated against the attitude of the Auditor-General whom it accused of not applying the law and protecting the public purse.
Occupy Ghana sued the Attorney General and the Auditor-General for refusing to surcharge persons who are said to have misappropriated monies belonging to the state to the tune of over GH¢40 billion.
According to the pressure group, every year, the Auditor-General finds many instances of misapplication of state funds by public officers, yet nobody is held accountable or punished, even though the Auditor-General has the power to disallow expenditures which were not in conformity with the law and to surcharge those responsible.
The group after engaging the Auditor-General and realising the Auditor-General didn't appear willing or capable of doing this, therefore took the matter to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court then granted all the reliefs that OccupyGhana sought with respect of the Auditor-General's powers of disallowance and surcharge.
The Court asked the Auditor-General to take steps to recover all amounts lost to the state including those that had gone to private persons.
In addition, the Attorney-General was to ensure enforcement of the orders including criminal prosecution where necessary.
These orders, according to the Supreme Court, was done notwithstanding the goodwill shown by the present Auditor-General, Mr Daniel Yao Domelevo.
Progress report
It is following that ruling that the Auditor-General is progressively reporting on how much has been recovered in the year 2018 and has submitted the report to Parliament.
more to follow...
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