GNPC responds to Auditor-General's report, says it is misleading and inaccurate

•The GNPC has responded to claims of a procurement breach by the Auditor-General

•The corporation's CEO, KK Sarpong described the report as misleading and inaccurate.

•KK Sarpong adds the GNPC will formally respond to the Auditor-General's report by Monday [August 16, 2021]

The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has responded to claims its management had breached procurement laws.

This comes after a recent audit report from the office of the Auditor-General cited the management of the corporation for entering into some significant foreign contracts without the necessary parliamentary approval.

Reacting to the development, Chief Executive Officer of the GNPC, KK Sarpong described the report and claims as inaccurate and misleading and will thus respond to the Auditor-General by Monday [August 16, 2021].

“GNPC did nothing wrong as alleged by the Auditor-General. The information put out there is not accurate and is misleading. The A-G got it totally wrong and we will educate him on the issues raised by Monday,” KK Sarpong said.

In its recent audit report, the Auditor-General stated that “Contrary to the above provisions, we noted from the sampled records reviewed that the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) signed and awarded five (5) international business contracts to five foreign suppliers or contractors using Single-Source method in four of those transactions and in one instance used the Restricted Tendering method without seeking for the necessary Parliamentary approvals. The five contracts totalled US$34,165,235.15, and £464,963.13."

“This practice has the tendency of not allowing the intentions of the promulgators of the law (1992 Constitution) inure to the benefit of the State. It also denies lawmakers the opportunity to make inputs towards such transactions. Thus, the absence of above could plunge GNPC into paying for higher contract sums and possible judgment debts,” the report said.

It added: “We recommended that Management of GNPC should be sanctioned in accordance with Section 92 of the Public Procurement Act 2003, (Act 663) as amended for breaching the Public Procurement Law”.