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Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu is the Auditor-General

Tue, 30 Aug 2022Source: www.ghanaweb.com

The 2021 Auditor-General’s report has revealed that between January 2018 and April 2020, a former accountant, Osman Jamal-Deen, forged the signature of the Medical Superintendent at the Buipe Polyclinic and withdrew GH¢430,009.54 from the hospital’s account.

The A-G has, however, recommended that the Medical Superintendent should use legal means to recover from Mr. Osman Jamal-Deen the amount of GH¢430,009.54

In the same report, the A-G also revealed that the Ministry of Finance (MoF) paid three persons a total of GH¢1,112,895.96 as salaries for the period January 2020 to December 2021 although they were not staff of the Ministry.

Regulation 86 of the Public Financial Management Regulations, 2019 (L.I. 2378) states that a Principal Spending Officer of a covered entity shall ensure that only the names of personnel who are eligible to receive payment for work done are kept on the payment voucher and keep records of the nominal roll of the covered entity in a manner that ensures that the correct amount of emolument is paid.

The A-G has recommended that the amount of GH¢1,112,895.96 should be recovered from the Chief Director and the payroll validators of the Ministry.

The 41-year-old suspect, Osman Jamal Deen, has been remanded in prison custody for allegedly stealing from the accounts of the polyclinic.

The Tamale High Court remanded the accountant after he pleaded not guilty to all three counts of stealing and forgery.

Osman Jamal will reappear before the court on June 8, 2021 for trial to begin.

The suspect was arrested in April last year and has since been on police enquiry bail.

The case was presided over by Justice Richard Kogyapwah.

According to a Daily Graphic report, the complainant detected some anomalies in the financial administration of the health facility.

He noted that the suspect had honoured cheques that he (the complainant) did not sign.

The complainant realised that Osman had undertaken many transactions without his knowledge, even though he was a co-signatory to the account.

NYA/BOG