General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia has described as welcoming news the Supreme Court orders, asking the Auditor General to retrieve ‘stolen’ state money.

The Supreme Court has ordered the Auditor General to, with immediate effect begin surcharging persons found to have misappropriated monies belonging to the state.

The seven-member panel of justices, presided over by incoming Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo, did not give any reasons for their judgment but indicated they make available the full details of the decision in some few hours.

The order of the court follows a suit filed by pressure group Occupy Ghana in June 2016 seeking an order directing the Auditor-General to issue Disallowances and Surcharges to and in respect of all persons and entities found in his relevant, successive Reports to have engaged in misappropriation of state funds.

Occupy Ghana in 2014 wrote a letter to the Auditor General reminding it to surcharge such persons or face them in court.

Reacting to the Supreme Court ruling, Asiedu Nketiah on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show averred that even though it is welcoming news for the country, there should be a structure for Parliament to use to retrieve ‘stolen’ state monies from the culprits.

According to him, as a former member of Parliamentary Appointments Committee and Public Accounts Committee, there is no structure for Parliament to use to retrieve the ‘stolen’ state money after resolution has been passed by Parliament on the Auditor General’s report.

“Retrieving stolen state money is welcoming news and I fully support the ruling of the Supreme Court . . . Parliament doesn’t have the powers of court to order the culprits to pay back the money, and so Occupy Ghana took advantage of the Constitution where it mandates the Auditor General to take those culprits to court before it presents its report to Parliament for resolution,” he stressed.

He added that the Supreme Court ruling will help to hold those public servants who are found culpable responsible for their crimes and not the sector minister as they are usually tagged as the only corrupt officials in public service.

He however urged this government to instruct the Auditor General to work closely with state prosecutors in a manner which will help to gather proper information during the Public Accounts Committee sitting to prepare criminal docket for prosecution.