Accra, Nov. 20, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor, on Tuesday challenged auditors to fashion out multifaceted approaches to combat the nature of the threat posed by fraud and economic crime, which had the ability to erase gains made by government at improving public sector financial management.

"Whether we are talking domestically or internationally, the nature of the threat posed by fraud and economic crime is changing," he said in speech read for him by Finance and Economic Planning Minister Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu at the opening of the Annual Internal Audit Forum in Accra. President Kufuor said: "The pressure to disrupt the means by which serious criminal activity is funded is increasing all the time.

"This is made even more imperative by the increasing sophisticated methods adopted by criminals to commit fraud and to ensure that the proceeds of their crimes are available to them."

The forum, organized by the Internal Audit Agency, brought together stakeholders to discuss pertinent issues and solicit suggestions and commitment to implement proactive measures to mitigate fraud, abuse and waste in the public sector.

It was on the theme: "Mitigating Corporate Fraud, Abuse and Waste: The Role of the Internal Auditor."

The forum brought together Chief Directors and Executives and heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, and accounting and audit professionals, as well as professional bodies, non-governmental organizations, the media and selected state enterprises amongst others. President Kufuor noted that fraud and corruption had become a major concern of most countries around the world, not because of its widespread occurrence both in the private and public sector but because of the wide publicity in the media and complaints from the public. "It cannot be treated in isolation because the link between fraud and the most fundamental problems faced by millions across the world - be it terrorism, poverty or drugs - is undeniable."

He said with the increasing concern for fraud and corruption it was proper that auditors demonstrated that the processes of auditing addressed these concerns by leveraging existing laws to formulate strategies for deterring fraud, abuse and waste before they occurred.

"We have carefully reviewed the threat of fraud and corruption and come to the conclusion that the best way of addressing the menace is to address it from its causes, while measures are put in place to deal with its symptoms in all their manifestations.

"Our belief is that deterrence and prevention are better than cure but in the case of fraud and corruption deterrence, prevention and cure must go hand in hand. The cost of deterring fraud and corruption is far less expensive than detecting and investigating them." Government's approach to tackling the issue, President Kufuor said, included the projection of good governance values based on transparency, accountability, discipline and performance, which would challenge the conscience of all Ghanaians, especially public office holders to account for their stewardship through established frameworks.

Secondly, government had provided the legislative framework to empower Ghanaians, public servants and institutions to perform their duties without fear of victimization but with professionalism. Additionally, government had developed institutional and human resource capacity for implementation of sound financial management in the public sector, President Kufuor said.

President Kufuor added that in order to deal with fraud and corruption, government had adopted economic and social measures to reduce the social pressure on susceptible people.

He said programmes like the Capitation Grant, the Schools Feeding Programme, the National Health Insurance Scheme and general improvements in the economy would contribute to eliminating justifications of fraud and corruption attributable to pressure.

Government, he said, was adopting a system-based approach to strengthen institutions to minimize opportunities for fraud and corruption in the public sectors.

President Kufuor said the fight against fraud, abuse and waste was very promising because government had laid a "very good" foundation by opening up the subject for discussion by stakeholders.

He said government would continue to strengthen that foundation by ensuring that the various institutions in the crusade against white collar crimes were given adequate resources and encourage healthy debates, dialogue and discussion on the issue.

President Kufuor thus tasked all chief executives in the public sector to ensure that they collaborated with the Internal Audit Agency to set up functional internal audit units by March 2008.

They are to develop, sign and make operational departmental Internal Audit Charter by March 2008, establish Functional Audit Report Implementation Committees by March 2008 and ensure that all outstanding internal and external audit recommendations were cleared by June, 30, 2008.

President Kufuor also charged the Chairman of the Public Services Commission and the Head of the Civil Service to work to remove bottlenecks in the performance management system in the public sector to ensure that Chief Directors and Executives were held accountable for agreed targets in performance agreements.

Justice Georgina Wood, Chief Justice, called on auditors to continue to be proactive, independent and always seek the truth. "If we do our job right, we increase investor confidence in the market place and the economy flourishes... And if we do our job right, our fellow citizens are safer, they have more confidence in us and freedom flourishes".