Audit report was FINAL not interim - Bagbin

Minority Leader in Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has said that the audit report on the Special Project Account was final and not an interim one as being misconstrued by the Executive and a cross-section of the public.

He said: "It was the final report and not part of a general audit. The auditing team raised queries and discussed it with the management of the Ministry of Works and Housing over renovation works at the Osu Castle."

Mr Bagbin, who is also the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, was speaking to the Ghana News Agency in reaction to a press statement by the New Patriotic Youth League (NPYL) asking him to apologise to Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, the Former Chief of Staff for accusing him wrongly.

Mr Bagbin also MP for Nadowli Northhad accused Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey, who is now the Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, of malfeasance in the Osu Castle renovation project, citing the audit report.

The Minority Leader described the NPYL statement as having been made out of stark ignorance of the facts of the case and the procedures involved in the award and payment of the contracts. "They also deviated from the substance of an earlier statement issued by the NDC on the issue.

"When I got the report I went ahead and investigated all the queries raised in it. There is nothing that I have said that is not true. There is nothing that I have stated that is wrong; and there is nothing that I've said that is misleading.

"I assure the NPYL that so far as I remained Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, I will continue to act as a mirror for the NPP government to enable it have a good look at itself."

Mr Bagbin said payment of money to Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey was illegal under the Financial Administration Regulations, "and that was the thrust of the NDC's press statement." He said reference by the NPP youth to the payment of 330,000 dollars by the previous government for the purchase of a lift for the State House, which remained unaccounted for was reflected in an earlier audit report.

"The International Police (INTERPOL) was invited by the Kufuor's administration to trace the contractor, who happened not to be a Ghanaian. "If they now find it necessary to make reference to that case why are they against the content of the special project account," he asked

Mr Bagbin denied ever questioning the huge expenditure over the renovation of the official residence of the Speaker of Parliament. He said his own investigations revealed that the Chairman of the Council of State objected to the re-allocation of the bungalow to the Speaker since it remained the official residence of the Chairman of the Council and that was reversed.

Bagbin also dismissed as false the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Yaw Barimah's allegation that Squadron Leader Clend Sowu (rtd) and Mr Abukari Sumani, Leading NDC members, evaded tax on the payment of their rent over their former official residence.

He said it was rather the Ministry that defaulted in paying the tax element to the relevant tax authorities after deducting the rent from their salaries.