Drill ship account closed in 2005
The acting Controller and Accountant-General, Mrs Grace Adzroe, yesterday submitted evidence of correspondence in respect of a bank account opened for the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) drill ship which has been shrouded in so much mystery.
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She presented the documents to the Judgement Debt Commission in the matter of D511 Ship Account Number 0001191613 at the Ghana International Bank.
The documents consisted of letters covering the opening of a special dollar investment account, request for payment of the GNPC’s indebtedness to CDH Financial Holdings, the release of funds from the account to pay Aquatic Engineering and Construction Limited and closure of the account, among others.
Response
Answering questions posed by Mr Dometi Kofi Sokpor, counsel for the commission, Mrs Grace Adzroe said the department derived the authority to open the account from a letter that gave authorisation to a staff of the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD), who represented the department at the Ghana High Commission in the United Kingdom at the time.
She said a document could be provided to show who or which agency of government or ministry authorised the opening of the account, although it was not readily available.
She also told the commission that the purpose of the account could be deduced from other documents they were awaiting from the High Commission in London.
Mrs Adzroe disclosed that it was on July 26, 2001 that the officer at the High Commission communicated the opening of the bank account, which she said was a government account, adding that technically, all proceeds were paid into the consolidated account.
She confirmed that the account in question was, however, no longer operational because it was closed in November 2005 with a balance of £1,008 at the instance of the representative of the CAGD in London.
She also said the balance was transferred to another account at the Ghana International Bank in London.
Mrs Adzroe could, however, not provide documentation on the operation of the account, such as a statement of account and asked for time to put the documents together and submit them.
She also told the commission that her department had requested other documentation on the operation of the drill ship account from the Ghana High Commission, which could be submitted latest by next week Wednesday to the commission, together with signatories of the said account.
In his closing remarks, however, the Sole Commissioner, Mr Justice Yaw Apau, said if the deadline was not met, the commission would summon the acting Controller and Accountant-General again.
Representing the Inspector General of Police in the matter of the Republic vrs The Inspector General of Police, Mr Anthony K. Kokroko, a legal officer at the Legal Directorate of the Ghana Police Service, said there had been a delay in payment of a judgement debt to 17 policemen belonging to the Guard Duty Unit, who were wrongfully dismissed by the service because statutory provisions had not been followed.
Facts of police case
The policemen in question were living in the National Police Training School, Block ‘A’ and were asked to move to a Chinese block to pave way for new recruits who were to be trained.
While some of them obeyed the command of the commander, others did not. So they were forced to remove their belongings.
“They put their belongings in front of the building, invited the press to take pictures and aired the story without the permission of the police authority,” Mr Kokroko recounted.
He said to add insult to injury, some of them who were required to report for duty the next day did not. Others reported between 10 and 11 p.m. instead of 6 p.m., therefore putting the lives of the personalities they were supposed to protect in danger.
“On the basis of that they were charged, tried and dismissed from the Police,” he said.
The aggrieved policemen went to court to seek judicial review and an order was made for their reinstatement on the grounds that they were wrongfully dismissed from the service.
After their reinstatement, however, the affected policemen are yet to receive their arrears, considered by the Police as a judgement debt, which is now the bone of contention.
Mr Kokroko contended that the policemen should have followed the procedure in section 15 of the state proceedings, by serving a copy of the judgement debt on the Attorney-General and Controller and Accountant General within 21 days after the judgement.
He said what had delayed payment was their number and the fact that the arrears was for two years, which made it a colossal sum. He indicated that the Police Administration did not factor some of these issues into its budget.
Daily Graphic/Ghana
Writer’s email: [email protected]
A version of this article appears in print on November 7, 2013, on page 16 of the Daily Graphic with the headline: Drill ship account closed in 2005