Accra (Greater Accra) 15 July ?99

A 500 million cedis fraudulent financial deal, involving two District Assemblies and the Controller and Accountant-General's Department has been busted by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

The assemblies involved are the Jomoro and Shama-Ahanta East Metropolis.

The SFO started the investigation last year after it probed at the Jomoro District Assembly Finance Office.

Mr. Bright A. Sapati, Acting Executive Director, said in Accra on Wednesday that during the Jomoro nvestigations, the SFO became suspicious because there was evidence that the incidence of such fraud could be extensive.

"We then took a look into the Shama-Ahanta East Metropolitan Assembly Finance Office", he said.

Mr. Sapati said in October last year, Mr. G.A. Opoku, Metropolitan Finance Officer, applied to the Controller and Accountant-General's (CAG) Department for additional expenditure authorisation to enable him to service commitments of various institutions and departments under the metropolis.

"He, therefore, made provision in his application to enable the treasury to continue to service them but did not indicate the departments to which these provisions were meant for".

Mr. Sapati said, based on these, Mr. Opoku obtained additional expenditure authorisation for 1.154 billion cedis in November 1998 from CAG.

He said in March this year when the finance office balanced its books, Mr. Opoku realised that the assembly had not utilised all the money approved.

Mr. Sapati said Opoku subsequently contacted the accountant and the hospital administrator of Takoradi government hospital, Joseph Adjei and Seth Boadu to obtain fictitious invoices for the supply of items upon which payment vouchers were raised.

"On the strength of the bogus invoices, cheques totalling 94.9 million cedis were issued and the money shared among the metropolitan finance officer, the hospital accountant, the administrator and the suppliers."

The SFO boss said "Mr. Opoku did not end there"; he made another contact with Mr. Baba Atiku, Accountant of the Islamic Unit of the Ghana Education Service, who also through similar means, obtained fictitious documents and succeeded in cashing 83.8 million cedis which was handed over to Mr. Opoku.

"In all cases, the sharing ratio was treasury staff 45 per cent, educational unit and hospital 30 per cent; accounting officers in controller and accountant-general's office 15 per cent; suppliers 10 per cent and five per cent for other related staff".

These amounts ended up in private pockets and no item was ever supplied.

Mr. Sapati said the investigations revealed that Mr. Ernest Wilson, an employee of the Controller and Accountant-General's Department in Accra, who helped Mr. Opoku to approve the expenditure authorisation, had 30 million cedis as his share of the booty.

Mr. Sapati said in all, 178,742,930 cedis were involved in the malpractice.

He said, however, that the SFO has succeeded in recovering all the money back to government chest.

He said the SFO is alarmed at this pattern of fraud and will continue its investigations and ensure that all such deals are eliminated or brought to the barest minimum.

Mr. Sapati said this is the second time such rackets have been busted in the Western Region.

"The total amount involved in only two of the district assemblies is 451.8 million cedis out of which 353.5 million cedis has so far been retrieved.

"It is a sad commentary that district finance officers who should act as control functions in financial probity at the district levels are now catalysing the perpetration of fraud in the districts."

He noted that the officers involved have been interdicted and would prosecuted.