Ghost Names - C2.68 Billion Go Down The Walewale Drain

Accra, March 2 GNA - Three persons have been cited as having paid 2,686,475,607 cedis to Ghost Government Workers in the West Mamprusi District of the Northern Region.

They are Mr A. K. Amenuvor, Head of the Computer Service Division of the Accountant - General's Department, Prince Mahama Sagri, an Accountant of the West Mamprusi Community Bank and Mr Abubakar Mohamed Amuda of Ghana Education Service, Tamale.

A Report from the Auditor-General's Department made available to the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday said investigation conducted at the instance of the Auditor-General revealed that 28 cheques with inflated face value of 2,686,475,607 cedis were paid to ghost workers in the West Mamprusi District.

"All the cheques were issued by the Controller and Accountant - General's (CAG) Value Books Section of the Computer Service Division (CSD)."

The Report said Mr Emmanuel Osei of the Computer Service Division received all the cheques but contrary to Financial Administration Regulation of 1979 the Head of the CSD, Mr Amenuvor did not maintain any record of the cheques received.

Consequently, the CSD treated the 28 cheques as spoiled cheques and did not, therefore, hand them over to the Payroll Processing Division for signature by the Chief Treasury Officers and subsequent distribution to any bank.

Further investigations revealed that Mr Amenuvor was the sole person, who could fully access the computers. Without him nothing could be done. He could also determine whatever was done on the computers anytime.

The Report said Mr Sagri admitted during the investigations that the face value of 28 cheques were inflated by a total of 2,686,475, 607 and that he shared the monthly difference with his linkman Mr Amuda and someone at the Controller and Accountant General's Department, Accra. He stated further that in the months in which he received the 28 cheques, he also received genuine cheques from the Accountant - General through the District Assembly with the correct amount that was to be paid.

The Report said Mr Sagri did not enter the genuine cheques in his records but waited for the inflated cheques from Mr Amuda and after processing the inflated cheques he destroyed the genuine ones. He submitted a list of 24 genuine cheques he received in 2001 for Ghana Education Service (GES) and non-GES staff to the Team of Investigators.

The Report further said Bank of Ghana, which honoured the 28 inflated cheques, subsequently confirmed that 12 of the genuine cheques were not presented for clearance.