The Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo is set to sue the Auditor-General for surcharging him for allegedly paying $1 million to a UK firm without evidence of work done.
The minister hopes the legal action will afford him the opportunity to clear his name.
The Auditor-General, Daniel Domelevo had indicted the Ministry of Finance and the Senior Minister for paying the UK firm, Kroll and Associates Limited, in 2017 to recover assets from identified wrongdoers, among others, without verifying outcomes.
Mr. Osafo-Maafo in a statement said he was resorting to the courts because “the evidence available shows clearly that the Auditor-General erred in law and professional procedures in the exercise of his powers regarding his audit on payments to Kroll and Associates Limited.”
“I have today Wednesday, 11th December 2019, instructed my Lawyers to commence legal processes to challenge a Disallowance and Surcharge imposed on me by the Auditor-General following his notice on 24th October 2019.
Government’s defence
In September, the Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, during the meeting with the press stated that the findings that identified the irregularities were false.
The government claimed the Mr. Domelevo did not go through the constitutional practice before going public and announcing the findings.
In October, the Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo in a letter addressed to the Auditor-General explained that the company actually carried out its obligations and that there was ample evidence of the work done by the firm to merit government’s payment.
He also insisted that approval for the request for single-source procurement of professional services was obtained contrary to claims by the Auditor-General that they failed to seek approval from the Public Procurement Authority.
Find below his full statement
