THE Chief of Staff of the Office of the President, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, has stated that officials of the past government found to have taken away public property would be dealt with according to law. He said even though 144 vehicles have so far been paid for by officials of the past government, his office is yet to go into how the cars were valued and paid for.

?We have asked the government valuer to tell us how the cars were valued and paid for.?

Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey was speaking on ?Kokorokoo?, a morning show programme of Peace FM, an Accra radio station, yesterday. He made it clear that under the transitional arrangement, government officials were entitled to only one car and that ?under no circumstances should anybody be allowed to buy multiple cars.?

He said in the meantime, his office is going through the list to check whether some officials took cars which are less than two years old. When we have done that and known the number of cars which were disposed of ?we will then ask the valuation officer to explain how he came by the prices put on the cars sold out.?

Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey gave the assurance that the list of those allocated vehicles under the transitional arrangement will be published by the end of this week.

He further emphasised that any property removed from public office without any authorisation would be treated as a case of stealing and the law will be made to take its course.

?We are not going to allow the wholesale looting of state resources and let me sound a note of warning that those who have stolen any public property should be prepared to face the law,? he stressed. Since the NDC Government handed over to the new NPP Government on January 7, there has been series of allegations that officials of the former government had stolen vehicles and other state properties such as fridges, air-conditioners, curtains, mattresses and other house hold appliances.

The issue has gained wide publicity in the private media to the extent that the NDC held a press conference last week to debunk such allegations.

The party?s General Secretary, Alhaji Huudu Yahaya, described the allegations as baseless, frivolous and calculated to tarnish the image of the past government in the eyes of the Ghanaian public. Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey said the government will not rush into a messy transition but that it would investigate thoroughly all allegations made against the former government officials.

?We need to be moving forward. The fact that a lot of wrong doing went on in the past should not occupy the time of the new government?. Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey was, however, quick to point out that the police will be made to follow all alleged cases of impropriety to establish the truth or otherwise against any government official.