It’s erroneous to think you can steal from the state and retire without prosecution – Amoako-Atta

Kwasi Amoako-Atta, the Minister for Roads and Highways who also serves on Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, has issued a warning to all public servants and political officeholders to work as the laws of the land require them rather than using dubious means to steal from the state.

He explained that many workers in public service political office holders, particularly those about to retire, try to take unfair advantage of the system and steal from the state in the hope of manipulating the system and retiring unpunished.

The roads minister stated unequivocally that such thoughts are a pipe dream because crimes do not have an expiration date, and it is past time to enact laws that would force people who have stolen from the state and are on retirement to face the law and be prosecuted in order to serve as a deterrent to others and reduce the high rate of theft in the system.

Mr. Amoako-Atta made these remarks today, Tuesday, January 17, 2023, at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), where the fisheries commission appeared to respond to some infractions cited in the Auditor General’s report for 2020.

”It is an erroneous impression to think that you can steal state resources and retire from public service without punishment. Several people are stealing from the state thinking retiring from public service will prevent them from being prosecuted.

Some people steal from the government and then retire, even though their retirement benefits have been paid. This is heinous and should not be tolerated. This would never happen in a private company.”

”The thievery in public service ot public office is alarming. We need strong laws to prevent them. There are criminal laws ro deal with these crimes, but several persons have gone off the hook for these crimes. Crime is not time-bound. If you commit a crime and retire, you must be dragged to court and prosecuted. That is the only way to stop these embezzlements and stealing of state funds.”