The Financial and Economic Crime Court, presided over by Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe, has found the Auditor General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, guilty of contempt of court.
It follows Domelevo’s failure to respond within time to an appeal by the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, against a surcharge by the Auditor General ordering him to refund to the state US$1 million paid to Kroll Associates for audit services rendered to the state.
Today’s ruling stated that the reasons Domelevo cited for his failure to respond to deadline are untenable. He had told the court that he was busy finishing a report for Parliament, to be laid in June this year, and that his secretary placed the court documents on his desk but he only saw them a month later.
Cautioned and discharged
The court proceeded to caution the Auditor General and discharged him. It explained that it recognises the importance of his work and, therefore, would not like to frustrate it.
On the substantive case of the appeal by the Senior Minister and four others against the Auditor General’s surcharge, the court at its last sitting said that it would wait to determine the contempt application before turning its attention to the main case.
Initially counsel for the Auditor General, Thaddeus Sory, expressed reservations with the court’s decision to suspend hearing the substantive case. However, he eventually agreed to go along with the court’s plans.
The dispute
There are two main cases before Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe relating to the Auditor General and the Senior Minister.
They are an appeal by the Senior Minister against a surcharge placed on him by the Auditor General and the contempt case against the Auditor General by the Senior Minister.
The Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, and four other officials of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, initiated a court action against Daniel Yaw Domelevo to clear their names in relation to what are said to be breaches of the Public Procurement Act. The alleged infringements resulted in the payment of $1 million to Kroll Associates, an international private audit firm.
The Auditor General concluded that Kroll was paid for no work done. The finding followed what he said was the Senior Minister’s persistent failure to provide proof of any actual work.
The payment by the government to Kroll Associates was effected through the Ministry of Finance. The Auditor General recommended that it be disallowed.
It was on this basis that Domelevo surcharged Osafo-Maafo and the four Finance officials.
Fred Dzakpata
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