With barely two weeks of assuming the hot seat as Minister of Youth and Sports (MOYS) Malam Ali Yusuf Issa's outfit has been ordered by the Auditor- General's office to refund an amount of ?852,734,036 it took from the Ghana Football Association (GFA) during last year's African Cup of Nations.

The funds, part of a donation of $450,000 received from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) towards the hosting of the tournament were advanced to the Ministry during the reign of his predecessor Hon. E.T Mensah for the payment of contractors engaged on projects at the Accra and Kumasi stadia.

About half of the money was also spent on the national U-23 national team, the Black Meteors.

The tournament was co-hosted by Ghana and Nigeria.

The Ministry was further asked to recover an amount of ?120m representing monies paid in excess to Messrs Dygate Ghana Limited and Department of Parks and Gardens.

The two were contracted to repair cracks at the Accra and Kumasi stadia and the playing fields at both stadia respectively.

The report dated February 12, 2001, also raised eyebrows over the acquisition of 50 Holland made wax prints costing ?23 million and supplied by Chief Aryee Enterprise, a company with very strong links to the wife of the ex-Minister, Hon. Enock Teye Mensah.

It slammed the purchase as unnecessary and a waste of money, since a specially designed cloth with the CAF logo had already been acquired for use for the CAN 2000 tournament.

"We noted that a specially designed cloth with the CAF logo was acquired for use during CAN 2000. However, 50 pieces of Holland Wax Prints costing ?23million were bought by the Ministry from Chief Aryee Enterprise. We are of the view that the money spent on this extra cloth could have been judiciously applied in other areas of the tournament," it underscored.

Chief Aryee's name has been associated with several contracts awarded by the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Accra Metropolitan Authority (AMA) covering the reign of Hon. E.T Mensah.

Chief Aryee Enterprise itself operates from store number 10 at the 31st December Market and sells batteries and cheap Taiwanese torch lights a development which raises eyebrows over its capacity to handle such contracts, Chronicle can reveal.

The report virtually gave the Ghana Football Association (GFA) a clean bill of health in terms of the organisation's utilisation of a CAF donation of $450,000 towards the hosting of CAN 2000.

On the excess payments in relation to Messrs Dygate Ghana Limited and the Department of Park and Gardens, the report recommended that care be taken to scrutinize all contracts to avoid overpayments in future.