The Auditor General has recovered more than GH¢67 million from surcharge certificates issued to individuals and organisations. In June 2017, the Supreme Court granted all the reliefs sought by pressure group, OccupyGhana, in respect of the Auditor-General’s powers of disallowance and surcharges.
The Supreme court directed the Auditor-General to issue disallowance and surcharges in respect of all state monies found to have been expended contrary to the law. The second relief granted by the Court is that the Auditor-General must take steps to recover all amounts lost to the state, and this covers private persons.
The Attorney-General was ordered to ensure enforcement of the orders including criminal prosecution where necessary.
In a statement signed by the Acting Public Relations Officer of the Audit Service, Bernard Conduah, it said during the period it issued 112 surcharge certificates to individuals and organisations and recovered a total amount of GH¢67,315,066 into government chest.
The statement adds that the Audit Service further submitted to parliament a special report on Disallowance and Surcharge as at November 30 2018.
The report seeks to draw the attention of parliament and the citizenry to progress made by the Ghana Audit Service on disallowance and Surcharge after the land mark decision of the Supreme Court on June 14, 2017.
The public can access copies of the Ghana Audit Service report at www.ghaaaudit.org.
