A forensic audit into how funds released to the Ministry of Youth & Sports (MoYS) for the organisation of the Brazil 2014 World Cup were used under the tenure of Hon. Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah is currently underway, The Catalyst can state. Hopefully, this will lay to rest the brouhaha over whether or not the taxpayers’ money was judiciously spent under the watch of the former Minister Of Youth & Sports.
The paper is aware that Ernest & Young is the Accounting Firm that contracted for the special exercise for the state. The firm is expected to conclude its work soon.
Hon Afriyie-Ankrah had told the Justice Senyo Dzamefe Commission that he has been accused of stealing from the World Cup Account and made a passionate appeal for his accusers to give their evidence to the Commission.
Under Hon Afriyie-Ankrah, there were two separate accounts managed by MoYS as far as the 2014 World Cup project was concerned. The first was money that was released into the MoYS account (Black Stars’ Account) by the state to be used for the preparation of the senior national team for the World Cup. The second was the Supporters’ Account which had to do with the corporate sponsorship for the supporters sent to Brazil.
Black Stars’ Account
He told the Commission that as at the time he left office, there was four million, four hundred and forty-four thousand, fifty-three dollars and fifty nine cents ($4, 444, 053.59) left in the ministry’s coffers, which is the balance of the actual amount of $8,918,945.06 received from government for the World Cup.
He said government had released a total amount of $9,417,024.87 in Ghana cedi equivalent into MOYS coffers. But the actual amount received by the ministry was $8,918,945.06 due to exchange loss of $404,841.94 plus bank charges of $93,237.87 which add up to $498,079.81.
The former Youth & Sports Minister indicated that he cannot be held to account for $4, 444, 053.59 of the $9,417,024.87. In other words, he is only accountable for only $4,474,891.47, of the actual amount of $8,918,945.06 because contrary to claims that he has stolen all the money, a balance of $4, 444, 053.59 was still sitting in the ministry’s account as at the time he was removed from that minister by the President.
This means that the current minister, Hon Mahama Ayariga is to be held accountable for the remaining $4, 444, 053.59, which his predecessor had left behind.
Supporters Account
The other, which is a separate accountant at Zenith Bank held funds from corporate Ghana’s sponsorship for supporters to the World Cup. This account also, the former minister said, was managed by the ministry.
To that effect, the former youth & sports minister showed records of $4,509,635.00 as the total amount received under his tenure but added that additional inflows continued to come in after he left office.
He indicated that when the Committee was formed, an account named MOYS-FIFA WORLD CUP 2014 was opened with Zenith Bank. This is because the bank had agreed to be the partner bank of the Ministry Of Youth And Sports, and provided seed money of GH? 230,000 as its contribution to the World Cup project.
According to him, before the account was opened, the Ministry had written to Bank of Ghana and Controller & Accountant General’s Department for authorisation.
He pointed out that there are four signatories to the account made up of Alhaji Yakubu Abdulai (A), Chief Director of the MOYS, Mr. Prosper Quarshie Apasu (B), Chief Accountant of MOYS, Alhaji Rex Sumani (A), Deputy Chief Director, Madam Seini Hawa [B], Deputy Chief Accountant of MOYS.
In respect of this account also, Hon Afriyie-Ankrah will account for how much of the $4,509,635.00 was disbursed under his watch.
Mandate of account
According to the mandate on the account, the chief director and chief accountant (A & B) must sign at all times. The former Sports Minister told the Commission that the processes for accessing the account were as rigorous as that of any MDA.
This fact exposes yet again the falsity of the claim that Hon. Afriyie-Ankrah had stashed the World Cup monies raised from sponsorship by the ministry in his personal account and dishing it out as he felt like it.
Approval process
There was a rigid approval process to be religiously followed in accessing monies from the account.
The approval process begins with the Secretariat, which is represented by a project coordinator officially appointed by the ministry who collates all invoices.
The Chief Director then receives all the invoices from the project coordinator, which he studies and analyses and forwards to Internal Audit for vetting.
Internal Audit further scrutinises and approves or otherwise, and returns documents to the chief director with recommendations, if any.
The Chief Director then makes his own recommendations to the Minister who studies the documentation received and if satisfied, approves.
With all the processes followed satisfactorily, the Chief Accountant then initiates payment.
Indeed, if a key player was not satisfied with any invoice and supporting document(s), a query was raised and payment was declined.
These measures, according to the former minister, were put in place by him order to ensure that the system guaranteed transparency and accountability in safeguarding state funds.
Commission’s verdict paramount
The Catalyst can state that the competent Commission of Enquiry will arrive at the truth in its findings at the end of the day. This will settle the matter of culpability or otherwise on the part of Hon. Afriyie-Ankrah and all those who played a part in the organisation of Ghana’s participation in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. A forensic audit into the accounts is a brilliant decision in a bid to unravel the truth.
Copyright © 1994 - 2024 GhanaWeb. All rights reserved.
