Business News of Tuesday, 14 August 2018
Source: ghanacrusader.com
2018-08-14
Alfred Agbesi Woyome
The Ministry of Finance (MoF); and the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD), have been indicted by the Auditor-General for failing to capture three important transactions in their 2016 reports.
They include a €15 million loan advanced by the Finance Ministry to the National Investment Bank; a $3.8 million judgment debt awarded against now-defunct Dunkwa Continental Mining Co. Ltd., and part-payment by Mr Alfred Agebsi Woyome, of the controversial GHS51 million judgment debt the Supreme Court ordered that he refund to the state.
“I again observed that three transactions, including two court judgments detailed below were not captured by the MoF and the CAGD in their books, as a result, these were omitted in the CF accounts,” the Auditor-General’s 2016 report noted.
Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee hearing on the report on Monday, 13 August 2018, were Deputy Finance Minister Abena Osei Asare; and Controller and Accountant General Eugene Asante Ofosu-Hene.
As far as the Dunkwa Continental Mining Co. Ltd. issue is concerned, the Finance Ministry said they have not been able to trace the owners of the mining firm for recovery of the judgment debt after the international court order.
In the case of the Woyome judgment debt, Mr Ofosu-Hene said: “We have a letter from the AG’s office to support the payment. The letter dated 8th of March 2018 was written to the Auditor General. And paragraph four says: kindly find below the computation of payments made by the Mr. Woyome based on the terms of settlement and the proceeds from the garnishee. Monies collected or recovered from the garnishee order GHc167, 565.62 and monies paid as a result of settlement, GHc4.5 million. So the two sum up to the GHc4, 667,566.62”.