Out of the total amount retrieved, GH¢1.6 billion was from tax irregularities, GH¢420.31 million from indebtedness (advances/loans), and GH¢131.07 million from cash irregularities.
The rest, amounting to GH¢13.60 million, was retrieved from contracts, payrolls, rent, and stores/procurement.
According to graphiconlin.com reports the amount was retrieved after the Audit Service had conducted audits of ministries, departments and agencies, public boards, the District Assemblies Common Fund, internally generated funds, pre-university institutions, and technical universities and determined expenditure improprieties.
The Auditor-General, Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, after holding a closed-door meeting with the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in his office in Accra last Friday said a task force was set up in May 2022, to follow up and ensure that all expenditures made contrary to law and disallowed between 2017 and 2020 are recovered.
According to him, disallowances of expenditure normally “lead to the Auditor-General recommending recovery from individuals, public officers, and institutions that committed infractions.”
This he said was different from surcharges which involved a different procedure that often ended up in court.
“An example is found under paragraph five of the Special Audit Report of the Auditor-General on Disallowance and Surcharge as of November 30, 2018, and issued on December 19, 2018, in which the service recovered GH¢67.32 million from public officers, individuals, and institutions which committed financial infractions in the course of performing their duties,” Asiedu is quoted by graphiconline.com.
Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu is the Auditor-General