11 persons indicted in Auditor-General’s report to be surcharged today

Some eleven individuals indicted in the Auditor-General’s report will be surcharged today to refund monies they have misappropriated, the Auditor General, Mr. Daniel Yaw Domelevo has disclosed.

The individuals are expected to refund the said monies with interest according tho the Bank of Ghana rate.

Mr. Domelevo told Journalists Wednesday that some other individuals complicit in the same offence will also be served in the coming days.

According to him, his outfit is committed to implementing the recent Supreme court ruling in respect of the Auditor-General’s powers of disallowance and surcharges.

“We are going through a painstaking exercise to build file on each case. So it is a gradual process. I’m sure that you and Ghanaians you’re aware that there are several adduces but we can’t tackle all of them together.
We have to go gradually, systematically take it case by case, build a complete file on the case. When they go on an audit they build one file for the whole audit but this time, No! each case we must build a file with all the supporting documents or evidence, so that when the person aggrieved files an appeal against us, the C.I 102 that I referred to earlier on says we have only 14 days to submit our evidence to the court, to prove to the court the basis we used in surcharging the person. So by the time you go and file the appeal against us, we have our evidence ready. Starting from yesterday, I’m reviewing 7 more files and before the close of day today, I’ll be issuing 7 more certificates, because my review shows that work done is good and so we would have reached 11. We are going gradually. Currently the only person issuing this certificate is the Auditor-General, myself, because I want to be sure that I start on a very good note. That I told my colleagues anybody who goes to court, I want to score 100%. When they go to court, I must be able to prove to court that here is the reason why I surcharged and the court should uphold my position instead of their position. So we are doing that starting gradually from the Auditor-General.”

The Supreme Court in June ruled that the Auditor-General must issue disallowance and surcharges in respect of all state monies found to have been expended contrary to law.

The Attorney-General has also been ordered to ensure enforcement of the orders including criminal prosecution where necessary.