Senior Auditors arrested for embezzlement and bribery

Four senior officers of the Audit Service were on Tuesday arrested for embezzling 37 million cedis, which they claimed, they used to bribe Public officials for salary increases in the service and Parliament to facilitate the passage of the Audit Service Bill in 2000.

They are, Mr John Lartey, Deputy-Auditor General; Mr Kwamena Ghansah, Assistant Director, Finance Section; Mr Samuel Amoako, Senior Auditor and Mr Appiah Kubi, Cashier. They are helping the Police in their investigations, a source at the Criminal Investigation Department is said to have confirmed on Wednesday.

The Ghana News Agency reported reliable sources at the Audit Service As saying that the four officers under the cloak of the local union of the Service deducted monies up to the sum of over 300 million cedis from the workers salaries ostensibly to speed up the payment of salary arrears of the workers from 1999 to 2001 and to facilitate the passage of the Audit Service Bill.

Investigations revealed that the 37 million cedis was cashed in two instalments on 4 January and 5 January 2001 long after the bill had been passed. Former President Jerry John Rawlings assented to the bill to replace the Audit Service Decree in October 2000. The law stipulates that the entire set-up of the service should be restructured.

Available document including a letter dated 5 June 2002 written by the Acting Auditor-General, Mr Edward Dua Agyeman to the Deputy Auditor General, Mr Lartey said; "I have observed that the Audit Service Act, 2000(Act 584) received Presidential assent in 10 October 2000; whereas the two cheques for 10,000,000 and 27,833,000 were cashed four months after on 4th and 5th January 2001, respectively.

"I cannot, therefore, see the relationship that you are trying to establish between the monies that were drawn in January 2001 and payment that was made four months earlier to accelerate the passage of the Audit Service Bill in 2000."

Another correspondence written by the Acting Auditor-General to the Deputy Auditor-General read: "I wish to remind you that paying monies to public officers to influence them to give unwarranted favour, or to a Member of Parliament (MP) to accelerate the passage of the Audit Service Bill is a criminal offence.

Your action appears to be anathema to the spirit and purpose of the Bill itself. Section 33(3) states that any member of the Audit Service, who demands or takes any bribe, gratuity, recompense or reward for the neglect of non-performance of his duty commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine or imprisonment or both.

"There is therefore no moral or ethical reason to pay monies to get the bill, which punishes bribery and corruption passed." Meanwhile a letter written by Mr Lartey to the Acting Auditor-General, Mr Agyeman read: "I wish to stress that the entire amount of 37,833,000 million cedis was not paid to Mr Samuel Amoako, Senior Auditor per se but to Divisional Chairman, Local Union, Mr Samuel Amoako who supervised the disbursement in the Supreme interest of the Service."

The letter said, "the Divisional Chairman, was deeply involved in the negotiations of the new salary level and the passing of the Audit Service Bill. "Finally, you may wish to know that no member of staff both management and union has complained against this levy which was conspicuously indicated on payment vouchers signed by all", the letter declared.

Mr Agyeman on Wednesday told the GNA in an interview that as State Auditors the Service had a responsibility to uphold the principles of probity and accountability and would work to ensure that the truth prevailed. In a related development, Mr Agyeman has directed that investigation be conducted into the circumstances that led to the under payment of salaries of nine members of staff between 1999 and 2000.