The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has sworn to go after public servants who embezzle funds and refuse to pay after they have retired. According to PAC, crime has no time limit and so whether one is on retirement or not, the state will pursue the offender and recover the embezzled funds.
“There are a lot of people in this country who think that if they embezzle funds and steal monies, which obviously constitute criminality and they go on retirement that should be the end of it. That is not true; crime is not time bound. Crime has no time limitation. Even if you are on retirement, you could still be pursued to answer for your actions.
“So even if they are on retirement, please pursue them to return the monies into government chest. The fact that they are on retirement is immaterial”, Mr Kwasi Amoako-Atta, Minister of Roads and Highways and a member of PAC said.
The Minister made the comments when the Fisheries Commission, an agency under the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development could not provide accounts for imprest it gave to some of its officers for foreign travels and the organisation of various activities when it appeared before the PAC in Parliament yesterday.
The Commission was first of all asked to provide accounts for a sum of $20,900.00 which was given to some officers for foreign travels and had not being accounted for at the time of audit.
The other infraction had to do with the payment of GH¢30,220 to some officers to undertake various programs, which monies had not been accounted for.
Auditors had recommended that the officers provide receipts for the monies and should they fail to do so, the monies should be treated as advances to them and should be recovered from their emoluments. Mr Amoako-Atta sought to know whether the monies had been recovered and paid into government coffers.
But responding to it, the Finance Officer at the Commission pointed out the difficulty in getting either the receipts or monies from the officers involved because most of them have gone on retirement. The Finance Officer also said some of these former staff members have even become visually impaired, while others are dead and so recovering the money has been a herculean task.
But Mr Amoako-Atta and other members of the Committee pointed out to the Commission that its responses to the Committee is an indication of how lackadaisical it has acted in recovering the monies from these retired officers because there are so many ways the monies can be recovered.
The Committee members suggested that the Commission could have deducted the monies from the retirement benefits of these officers but it chose not to do so.
They advised the Commission to use every means they can to recover the monies from these former staff or their families.
PAC commenced public hearing on the Report of the Auditor-General (AG) on the Public Accounts of Ghana -Ministries, Departments and Agencies for the year 2020 on Monday July 16.
At its first sitting, representatives from the Ministry of Finance together with a team from the Controller and Accountant-General Department took their turn to respond to some infractions cited by the AG followed by the Bank of Ghana.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Finance together with the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Controller and Accountant-General Department and the Ministry of Youth and Sports also appeared before the committee to respond to audit infractions.
The Ministry of Education was expected to also appear before the Committee to respond to some infractions but they could not make it. Today, the Ministry of Health is expected to appear before the committee to respond to the audit infractions involving its agencies and departments.
Mr James Klutse Avedzi, Chairman, PAC
The Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Mr Moses Anim (second left) and other officers swearing an oath before PAC
