{"id":596831,"date":"2019-03-06T23:06:24","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T23:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"
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Public officials found to have misused or diverted petroleum funds will soon be prosecuted by the state. <\/span><\/p>\n

Steve Manteaw, Chairman of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC)\u00a0said the decision was reached because his\u00a0<\/span>office<\/span><\/span> does not have the legal capacity to enforce its recommendations. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cPursuant to its mandate, PIAC has since 2011 made findings and recommendations in its annual and semi-annual reports highlighting among others instance of misapplication, misuse and diversion of <\/span>petroleum<\/span><\/span> funds allocated to projects,\u201d he said. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor us at PIAC shedding light on what appears to be <\/span>criminal<\/span><\/span> conduct on the part of some public officials with respect to the use petroleum revenues without holding such people to account, does not serve the accountability mandate that can be inferred in our name,\u201d he said. <\/span><\/p>\n

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His comments come after the Committee\u00a0signed an MoU with the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) seeking to combat crimes relating to the management of petroleum revenues in the country. <\/span><\/p>\n

Over the years, <\/span>experts<\/span> in the petroleum sector <\/span>have<\/span><\/span> complained about the misappropriation of the country\u2019s oil revenue. <\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, PAIC noted that it was yet to receive any form of correspondence from the Finance Ministry explaining the <\/span>whereabouts<\/span><\/span> of the over \u00a2400 million unutilized oil revenue allocated to the annual budget funding amount in 2017. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Situations like these have been raised in the past but Dr Manteaw said lack of legal capacity to enforce recommendations has always been a challenge. <\/span><\/p>\n

He said it is for this reason that PIAC and EOCO have come together to combat crimes relating to the management of petroleum revenues in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the signing of the MOU, Dr Manteaw noted that the agreement will help safeguard the sector from criminal abuse. <\/span><\/p>\n

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K.K. Amoah is EOCO boss<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are from today beginning a transitional journey from transparency to accountability with a view to combating economic and organized crime relating to the management and use of petroleum revenues in the country,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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PIAC stated that the agreement with EOCO will look at issues as far back as 2011, stressing all persons found guilty will be prosecuted\u00a0by the Attorney General.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt will start from 2011 when oil revenues started coming in. Crime has no status banner so, since oil revenue inception, all revenues that have been abused will have to be accounted for,\u201d he stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

On his part, the Executive Director of EOCO,\u00a0K.K. Amoah stated that his office will work with work diligently to protect the public purse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said there are cases they are working\u00a0already on and he is hopeful there will be many cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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