Eleven people indicted in the Auditor General’s report will be surcharged today (Wednesday, August 2, 2017) to repay the monies they misused.
This was disclosed by the Auditor-General Daniel Yaw Domelevo.
Speaking to the media Domelevo said the culprits are expected to refund the money with interest according to the Bank of Ghana rate.
He added that more people will be served surcharge notice in the coming days.
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He pledged that his office is ready to implement the Supreme Court ruling and “we are going through a pain taking exercise to build file on each case.”
“It’s a gradual process. I’m sure that you are aware that there are several adduces but we can’t tackle all of them together, we have to go gradually, systematically and build it case by case. Each case, we must build the file with all the supporting documents or evidence so that when the persons aggrieved files an appeal against us the C.I. 102 says we have only 14 days to submit our evidence to the court to prove to the court the basis we used in surcharging the persons,” he added.
In June 2017, the Supreme Court ordered the Auditor-General to start the process of surcharging all persons who are found to have misappropriated public fund in their reports.
This ruling was passed after a pressure group, Occupy Ghana filed a suit against the Auditor General praying the court to compel them not to only report on financial misappropriations by public officials but to take steps to retrieve all state finances that may have gone into wrong hands.
In a related development, Domelevo said his outfit is putting in every effort to build a solid case in order not to lose in court should any of the aggrieved persons file an appeal.
“By the time you go and file the appeal against us, we have our evidence ready. Starting from yesterday, I’m reviewing seven more files and before the close of day today, I will be issuing seven more certificates. Because my review show that work done is good. Currently, the only person issuing this certificate is the Auditor General; myself because I want to be sure that I start on a very good note. When they go to court I must be able to prove to the court the reasons why I surcharged and why the court should uphold my position,” he added.