The Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) has announced a collaboration with the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to investigate and prosecute persons involved in payroll irregularities.
This action came in response to concerns voiced by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) over financial irregularities, such as unearned compensation and overpayment of salary, as detailed in the 2024 Auditor-General’s report.
“We shouldn’t just end at recovery; we should go beyond recovery. The audit report will definitely indicate the recipients and their staff ID. We are working in collaboration with other security agencies, OSP, because if somebody did it, definitely we are using an oracle system,” Controller and Accountant-General Mr. Kwasi Agyei said on Monday.
He made the remarks while Mr. Thomas Ampem Nyarko, Deputy Finance Minister, led the Ministry of Finance, the CAGD, the Ghana Revenue Authority, and other ministry agencies to appear before PAC to answer questions about infractions raised in the 2024 Auditor-General’s report.
Mr. Agyei added that the collaboration aimed to hold individuals responsible for payroll anomalies accountable.
“Madam Chair, once we get that, we will just exercise patience, and then definitely with the investigation, those culpable will be brought to book,” he stated.
The Controller and Accountant-General anticipated that this development would increase accountability and transparency in the handling of public monies.
He pointed out that the CAGD could readily identify criminals utilizing the system’s audit trail.
“There is an audit trail. We can go straight into the system and know and identify who actually possesses the allowance on that particular day. It is something very easy that we can do.”
The PAC public hearing began on Monday, August 19 and finished on Monday, August 25.
The PAC is scheduled to reconvene on Monday, September 29, to review the Auditor-General’s report on MDAs for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2024, according to Madam Abena Osei Asare, Chairperson of the PAC, following Monday’s public hearing in Parliament House, Accra.
Source: newsthemegh.com