EOCO kept over GH¢1bn government cash wrongly – Auditor General

The Auditor General has charged the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) for breaching the constitution as well as the public financial management Act.

According to the 2016 Auditor General’s report on Consolidated Funds, EOCO kept GH¢1,168,998.37 it recovered from individuals and organizations in 2015 in contravention of article 176 of the constitution.

The Auditor General further stated that it noted that the Controller and Accountant General Department (CAGD) failed to disclose an accumulated interest of GH¢806,407 which formed part of the DANIDA loan.

“The failure of MoF (Ministry of Finance) to ensure effective management of these loans accounted for this state of affairs,” the Auditor General Daniel Domelevo stated in his report.

Mr Domelevo has, therefore, recommended that Debt Management Division (DMD) and Public Debt and Investment (PDI) “should strengthen their collaboration to ensure full recovery of all outstanding debts due Government of Ghana (GoG).”

“I also urged CAGD to restate the loan balance to reflect the accrued interest and ensure that all monies deposited into EOCO accounts are reconciled and transferred into the Consolidated Fund,” he added.

Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Monday to answer questions on the development, the Deputy Finance Minister Abena Asare said EOCO “was supposed to have transferred the monies that they have collected to us.”

Responding to a question from the Chairman of the Committee James Klutse Avedzi on whether the Finance Ministry had a contract with EOCO to keep the monies, Asare revealed “we never stated in any agreement that it should be a year, no! But they failed to do that and we drew their attention to it.”

Asked if the Ministry has any sanction for EOCO for contravening of article 176 of the constitution, Asare said “EOCO is a State Institution not like a debt collecting institution that you engaged with terms. They should have paid into the Consolidated Account as and when they got the monies and we believe that as we have pointed it out to them, EOCO will desist from keeping monies that have collected on behalf of the Ministry.”