Bombshell At Judicial Service

Before the current Chief Justice, His Lordship, E. K. Wiredu assumed office, his predecessor, the late Chief Justice I.K. Abban had left a debt of ?7.7 billion at the Judicial Service as a result of mal administration. Like Rome, which was not built in a day, this alarming debt figure was also accumulated over a period of time under the late Chief Justice’s administration. What primarily brought about the problem are the extra Financial Administrative powers that the late Chief Justice I K Abban granted to the Acting Chief Supply Officer, Gabriel Daniel. The directive mandated him to conduct all transactions on behalf of the Judicial Service without questioning. This easily boosted his ego, which apparently opened him up to several fictitious deals at the Service.

Though the late Chief Justice’s action sins against Financial Administration Regulations (FAR) L.I 1234 of 1979, he still went ahead to grant those powers. Some of the fraudulent activities detected by this paper which resulted in the huge debt at the Judicial Service, include double payments.

It was for instance discovered that an amount of ?100m paid to Integrated Electronics included ?78 million over paid vouchers. It was further observed during the investigations that without due regards to existing regulations and procedures, the Internal Audit department of the Judicial Service headed then by the Acting Chief Internal Auditor, W. K. Nkatia could pass for payment vouchers by the schedule officers.

The late Chief Justice’s directive, contained in a document dated 12/6/95 which strengthened the powers of Mr. Gabriel Daniels reads: “The Acting Supply Officer is therefore, directly responsible to the Chief Justice and Judicial Secretary. This being so, any transactions entered on behalf of the Judicial Service by instructions of any officer not below the rank of A.S. (subject to auditing) provided that transaction is approved by either Judicial Secretary or Chief Justice shall be the duty of the Judicial Secretary and Financial Controllers to look for funds to meet transactions in accordance with current financial status”.

This move curtailed all internal financial control mechanisms to permit thorough checks on transactions undertook by Mr. Gabriel Daniel on behalf of the Judicial Service. In one of the mischievous deals, the same model of items was ordered twice for the Judicial Service from Integrated Electronics Service. The first transaction took place in March 9, 1998 while the second also occurred on December 15, 1998. Further amounts of money were paid to the company when they had not supplied the Service with any items.

The December 1998 Audit Report of the Judicial Service pointed to serious lapses in the service’s procurement procedures. For example, the supply section submitted list of items to be purchased for approval by the Judicial Secretary without prices attached. It also noted that without due regard to existing regulations and procedures, the Internal Audit section passed for payment vouchers raised by schedule officers.