Current and past CEOs of NHIA indicted over wrongful payments to Zoomlion; AG orders over GHȻ400m refund

The order follows an audit of NHIA covering the administration of four Chief Executive Officers, including National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential aspirant, Sylvester Mensah.

The Auditor General Daniel Domelevo wrote separate letters to the current and the three ex-CEOs of the Authority; Samuel Annor, Sylvester Mensah, Ras Boateng and Nathaniel Otoo to inform them that after an audit into the accounts of the NHIA for the period from January 2007 to April 2018, the financial infractions were noted, prompting the surcharges and ultimatum.

The audit found that the NHIA, under the tenure of Sylvester Mensah, made a payment of GHȻ111,401,650 to Zoomlion without following due processes.

The payment, which the audit found was authorized by Mr Mensah and the former DCE in charge of Finance & Investment of the Authority at the time, Alex Nartey, from June 2009 to May 2015, was contrary to Regulation 39 of Financial Administration, Regulations L.I. 1802.

Mr Mensah and Nartey, along with Zoomlion were surcharged an amount of GHȻ202,013,257 and are to refund a total amount of GHȻ313,414,907.09.

Nathaniel Otoo, who headed the authority between 2015 to 2017, has along with Mr Nartey, been asked to refund an amount of GHȻ66,918,032 after the payment of GHȻ47,000,000 was made to Zoomlion without due procedure.

Ras Boateng, who was CEO of NHIA from 2007 to 2009, was also surcharged an amount of GHȻ583,000 along with Zoomlion after payments of GHȻ5,500,000 were made to the waste management company without recourse to due processes.

The current CEO Samuel Annor, the then DCE in charge of Finance & Investment Francis Owusu and Zoomlion, were ordered to refund an amount of GHȻ25,017,147.21.

All surcharged parties were directed to make the payments within 14 days of receiving the notice and to produce proof of payment on a Treasury Counterfoil Receipt (TCR), to the Legal Unit of the Ghana Audit Service.

The note from the Auditor General added that if the monies are not paid before the deadline civil proceedings will be commenced to recover the amount from those surcharged.