EOCO probe: 'Corruption fighting me back for fighting it' – Domelevo

Auditor-General Daniel Yaw Domelevo has said “fighting corruption is dangerous”, adding: “If you fight corruption, corruption will fight you in whatever way”.

Mr Domelevo’s comment comes on the back of a probe by the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) into the payment of some GHS6.2 million for cars purchased by the Audit Service, allegedly without following due process.

The state-run Daily Graphic newspaper reported on Tuesday, 5 November 2019 that the probe is at the instance of a complaint filed by a private citizen against the Auditor-General, the Deputy Auditor-General (Finance and Administration), Mrs Roberta Assiamah-Appiah, and the Audit Service Board, accusing them of circumventing the procurement laws to procure the vehicles.

Describing the accusation as a “storm in a teacup”, Mr Domelevo told the national paper that when the alleged procurement breaches were brought to his attention late last year, the service had not paid for the vehicles until the Public Procurement Board directed that the monies be paid.

“They have to prove I did those payments they claim because I didn’t do any payments to any company,” he said.

He referred to page eight of the Public Procurement Authority report dated 3 January 2019, which stated that at the time of the investigations, the vehicles had not been paid for.

“The supplier, Toyota Ghana Company Limited, was not paid at the time of the investigation for the supply of the vehicles amounting to the sum of GHS6.1 million,” he stated.

He said when the investigations concluded that no money had been paid to the supplier, the Board of the Public Procurement Authority ordered that the Audit Service should take immediate steps to pay the supplier.

“So, we were simply complying with the directive of the Public Procurement Board, so that debt is legally genuine,” he said.