GNPC cannot position itself above parliamentary approval for international transactions - IAA

• The IAA has disagreed with the GNPC's position after it entered into some international transactions

• The Corporation in a rejoinder said it does not require parliamentary approval to undertake international transactions

• But the IAA Director-General believes his outfit was right in raising red flags over GNPC’s international transactions

The Internal Audit Agency (IAA) has said it disagrees with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation’s (GNPC) assertion that it does not require parliamentary approval before it undertakes international transactions.

This comes after Auditor General's Department in its 2020 report said the GNPC entered into five significant international business contracts without parliamentary approval, contrary to the provisions of Article 181 of the 1992 Constitution.

But in a rejoinder issued to the audit report, GNPC described the findings as inaccurate, misleading and one that was with no legal basis.

“The requirement to seek parliamentary approval for the five transactions referred to in the report does not apply to GNPC and we request that the Auditor General corrects his findings and conclusions as soon as possible,” portions of the rejoinder read.

Reacting to the assertions made, Director General of the Internal Audit Agency Dr Eric Oduro Osae insisted that the Auditor-General Department was right in raising red flags over GNPC’s international transactions.

“It is clear that the GNPC is a state institution, and they are acting on behalf of government and the state. And the Public Financial Management Regulations (PFMR) and the Public Financial Management Act is clear. It is not for nothing that regulations 192 to 206 of the PFMR provides for state-owned enterprises and public corporations, so I think they fall within the ambit of the PFMR Act and the Auditor-General has a duty and the mandate to audit that institution as well.”

Dr Oduro said this in an interaction on Citi TV’s Point of View programme monitored by GhanaWeb.

Meanwhile, the 2020 audit report indicted the GNPC for signing and awarding some five international business contracts to foreign suppliers.

The report stated that the corporation used the single-source method in four of those transactions and in one instance used a restricted tendering method without seeking the necessary parliamentary approval.