Former Auditor General asks Govt to clear his name

Accra, April 17, GNA - The former Auditor General, Mr Osei Tutu Prempeh on Thursday called on the government and Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) to exonerate him and explain why he was arrested and humiliated before the Ridge Church Congregation and within the international community.

Mr Prempeh was arrested for allegedly taking home classified state secret documents and misappropriating United Nations funds.

He said: "My arrest at Church on Good Friday was wrong and without merits as the documents alleged to be classified state secret were later found out to be my personal copies, while the investigations into the UN Fund account by the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) was illegal and contrary to directives and standard procedures of the UN."

Mr Prempeh was addressing a packed press conference in Accra on the eve of the second anniversary of his arrest, titled: "Request For Redress And Exoneration Of Mr Osei Tutu Prempeh" following his unjustified arrest and harassment by the BNI.

He said: "I explained to the panel that interrogated me at the BNI that the subject matter of the investigation was contrary to UN directives and showed the panel relevant documents including a circular signed by the Secretary General Mr Kofi Annan, which clearly forbids any member state of the UN from auditing UN accounts.

"I pointed out that the funds in respect of which I was being questioned belonged to the UN and had nothing to do with the consolidated fund of the Government of Ghana."

The Former Auditor General said he took time also to explain to the panel about the UN's own structures and mechanisms for ensuring effectiveaccountability in its financial management system.

& nbsp; Mr Prempeh said the UN system required that at the end of each operation period a statement of account on the utilization of the funds in the country be submitted to the Executive Secretary of the UN Board of Auditors. He said; "for the past 10 years that I served the UN, I complied with all directives and had never received a query or complaints".

He said, even though, it was wrong for the auditing of UN accounts by a member state, the UN Board of Auditors at the UN Headquarters had written to clarify and to exonerate him.