Audit Scandal: GH¢8.1 Billion in Fake Claims Discovered in Government Arrears скачать в хорошем качестве

Audit Scandal: GH¢8.1 Billion in Fake Claims Discovered in Government Arrears

The report, presented to Parliament by the Deputy Finance Minister Thomas Nyarko Ampem on behalf of the Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, is based on a detailed audit conducted by the Ghana Audit Service working together with two major international professional services firms, Ernst and Young and PWC, who were brought in to assist with the verification and validation of arrears submitted to the Ministry of Finance by various ministries, departments and agencies. The exercise examined claims arising from unpaid Interim Payment Certificates, invoices, and bank transfer advices submitted by contractors and suppliers who say they are owed money by the state, and in total, claims amounting to GH¢68.7 billion were presented for verification, a staggering figure by any measure in an economy of Ghana’s size. But the truly disturbing part of the story is what the audit uncovered during that verification process, because out of the total claims presented, GH¢8.1 billion could not be validated and were therefore rejected outright after auditors found serious irregularities including unsupported documentation, duplicated claims, inflated amounts, items that had already been paid, falsified store receipt advices, and in some cases claims submitted for work that had simply never been done. Let us pause and appreciate the magnitude of what that means, because when auditors say claims could not be validated due to falsified documentation or work that was never done, they are effectively telling us that within the enormous pile of government arrears are embedded potential attempts to siphon billions of cedis from the public purse, money that belongs to the people of Ghana and which could have been used to build schools, equip hospitals, repair roads, provide water systems, or fund countless development projects across the country. This is why the referral of the report to the Public Accounts Committee must not become another procedural exercise that generates headlines and then quietly disappears into silence, because what the country needs now is a full scale and uncompromising investigation that leaves no stone unturned and no official beyond scrutiny. #JoyPrime