Some 16 past and current judges of the Superior Courts, have been fingered by the Auditor-General for purchasing their expensive official vehicles at knockdown prices, contrary to Regulation 158 of the Public Financial Management Regulations, 2019 (L.I. 2378).
One of the vehicles, a 2013-registered Toyota Corolla, was auctioned for as low as GH¢7,509.00 to His Lordship Justice Thomas Ofedie, whilst His Lordship Justice N.C. Agbevor, bought a Toyota Land Cruiser with registration GT 796-19 for GH¢123, 620.00; the highest amount the Auditor-General identified as paid for the vehicles auctioned.
This was contained in the latest audit report on Ministries, Departments and Agencies, revealing how lapses in the management of public finances and resources led to a loss of GH¢1,080,913,824 in 2021.
The official vehicles, which the judges drove home on retirement, includes Toyota Land Cruisers, Toyota Corolla saloon cars, Toyota Avalon saloon and a Toyota Fortuner SUV.
They were illegally auctioned to jurists which, included Supreme Court judges by the Judicial Service at outrageous prices, and the audit report is saying the auction was without the approval of the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.
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This comes amid reports available to The Herald that some of the judges, especially those who retired from the Supreme Court, have been allocated their official bungalows by the Akufo-Addo government to buy as happened in the John Kufuor era.
The Auditor General’s Report of 2021, has been submitted to Parliament by the Auditor-General, Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, who wants the vehicles recovered from the 16 judges. The Audit Report did not mention which auctioneering company valued the cars and came to the prices the judges paid for it.
The Auditor-General stated in paragraph 739 of the report that “our examination of records of the Transport Unit for 2021 revealed that a total of 19 official vehicles were auctioned by the Service for GH¢ 1,023,507.96, without approval from the Minister of Finance”.
The judges on the list include recently retired Supreme Court Judges Yaw Appau and Julius Ansah as having acquired state-owned vehicles contrary to the provisions of this law.
“In the absence of approval from the Finance Minister, we recommended that the auction be nullified, and the vehicles recovered”, Auditor-General said in the report.
The action of the Judicial Service is in contravention to Regulation 158 of Public Financial Management Regulation, 2019 (L.I 2378) which stipulates that the Principal Spending Officer of a covered entity shall obtain prior approval of the Minister for transfer, exchange, sale, donation, contribution-in-kind, trust and any other disposal of any vehicles of covered entity. Also, regulation 158 States that any disposal, lease and other action referred to in sub-regulation 1 that is made without the written approval of the Minister, is void.
H/L Justice N.S Gbadegbe alone acquired two vehicles—a Toyota Land Cruiser with registration number GT 4158-17 and a Toyota Avalon saloon with the registration number GR 2777-14 at a cost of GH¢67,047.00 and GH¢27,570.90 respectively.
The judges who benefited from the auction are;
1.H/L Justice F. G. Korbieh Toyota Land Cruiser GR 8132-17 GH¢57,975.00
- H/L Justice N. S. Gbadegbe Toyota Land Cruiser GR 4158-17 GH¢67,047.00
- H/L Justice N. S. Gbadegbe Toyota Avalon Saloon GR 2777-14 GH¢27,570.90
- H/W Charles Y. Boateng Toyota Corolla Saloon GM 8311-13 GH¢9,090.00
- H/L Justice Julius Ansah Toyota Land Cruiser GR 4128-17 GH¢75,643.00
- H/L Justice Julius Ansah Toyota Avalon Saloon GT 2774-14 GH¢40,920.06
- H/L Justice Asmah K. Asiedu Toyota Corolla Saloon GN 4997-13 GHC8,399.00
- Robert Cudjoe Toyota Corolla Saloon GM 9231-13 GH¢12,687.00
- H/L Justice Lawrence L Mensah Toyota Land Cruiser GR 1902-17 GH¢67,192.00
- H/L Barbara W. Acquah Toyota Fortuner Station Wagon GN 57-18 GH¢92,914.00
- H/L Thomas Ofedie Toyota Corolla Saloon GM 6826-13 GH¢7,509.00
- H/L Justice Jennifer A Tagoe Toyota Fortuner-SUV GT 75-18 GH¢87,887.00
- H/L Justice E. K. Mensah Toyota Fortuner-SUV GT 30-18 GH¢59,000.00
- H/L Justice N. C. Agbevor Toyota Land Cruiser GT 796-19 GH¢123,620.00
- H/L Elizabeth Ankumah Toyota Fortuner-SUV GT 39-18 GH¢107,271.00
- H/L Justice Yaw Appau Toyota Land Cruiser 200 (v8) GR 6590-17 GH¢ 56,606.00
- H/L Justice Yaw Appau Toyota Avalon saloon GT 2945-14 GH¢48,632.00
- H/L Justice Jacob B. Boon Toyota Avensis GM 517-15 GH¢13,100.00
- H/L Justice Nathaniel Osam Toyota Fortuner SUV GT 49-18 GH¢60,445.00
The Auditor-General has, therefore, recommended that the auction be nullified and vehicles recovered in the absence of the Finance Minister’s approval.
It is unclear, if the Finance Minister, Mr Ofori-Atta, who himself has been indicted by the Auditor General for paying some three persons a total of GH¢1,112,895.96 as salaries for the period January 2020 to December 2021, although they were not staff of the Ministry, will order the recovery of the vehicles from the judges.
Regulation 86 of the Public Financial Management Regulations, 2019 (L.I. 2378) states that, a Principal Spending Officer of a covered entity shall ensure that only the names of personnel who are eligible to receive payment for work done are kept on the payment voucher and keep records of the nominal roll of the covered entity in a manner that ensures that the correct amount of emolument is paid.
But the Auditor General in his audit report for the year 2021 noted that he could not trace the personal files and names of the three persons who received salaries for a year on the nominal roll of the Ministry.
The three Allotey Easmon James, who got paid GH¢206, 433.00, Kwakye Nana Yaw Asiedu got a whopping GH¢535, 736.80 and Adam Habibu, who received a total of GH¢370, 724.16.
The A-G has recommended that the amount of GH¢1,112,895.96 should be recovered from the Chief Director and the payroll validators of the Ministry.
Nothing is yet available on Allotey Easmon James and Kwakye Nana Yaw Asiedu but The Herald’s checks have revealed that Adam Habibu, operated the Office of the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Marfo.
Adam Habibu, had contested the Tamale North Constituency seat New Patriotic Party (NPP) primaries for the 2020 parliamentary elections but lost by four votes to Damani Alhassan, who had won the seat in 2012 as independent candidate although a known member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Damani Alhassan, later became an NPP candidate after crossing carpet to the ruling party having been ensnared with government goodies. He was eventually beating Alhassan Suhuyini, the NDC candidate.
Other parts of the audit report on the Ministries, Departments and Agencies showed that lapses in the management of public finances led to losses of GH¢1,080,913,824 in 2021. The irregularities represent either losses that had been incurred by the State through impropriety or lack of probity in the actions and decisions of public officers.
The report noted that savings could have been made if public officials and institutions had duly observed the public financial management framework put in place to guide their conduct.
“We will investigate these matters further and, where appropriate, disallow any items of expenditure that were contrary to law and surcharge responsible officials accordingly,” the Auditor General noted in the report.
Tax irregularities formed 91.5 percent of the total financial infractions reported.
These included GH¢402,804,572 due from 28 Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) who defaulted in paying their rescheduled debt between January 2021 to December 2021.
“These irregularities could be attributed mainly to failure on the part of the Ghana Revenue Authority to pursue the OMCs by applying the relevant measures and sanctions against defaulters,” the report noted.
The report recommends that the Commissioner General, GRA, should strengthen its monitoring and supervision of its staff.
“He should also take steps to improve efficiency in their tax collections and follow up on overdue taxes while applying sanctions as prescribed by the tax laws.”
