Dr. Jebuntie Zaato, Senior Lecturer at the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana has urged government to retrieve stolen funds from persons found guilty of embezzling state funds and not limiting punishment to just convictions.
He said such retrievals could help the state in implementing its development initiatives and policies such as the Big Push Agenda, the Women’s Development Bank etc.
“In doing these cases, we should also look for retrieval not only convictions. And my benchmark is you pay all the money with interest. If you are alleged to have stolen $2 million, pay all the money first with at least 10% interest,” he noted in an interview on TV3’s The Key Point, Saturday, October 25.
Dr. Zaato’s comment comes in the wake of Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) investigations by the Attorney-General where some persons have been accused of stealing state funds for personal gains.
The Attorney-General during the week disclosed what he described as a “criminal enterprise” at the Buffer Stock Company under the erstwhile Akufo-Addo administration.
According to him, the former Chief Executive Officer of the company, Hannan Abdul Wahab and his wife embezzled over GHC40 million, acquiring properties with monies meant for the School Feeding Programme.
Dr. Zaato further commended President Mahama for his plan to establish special courts to fast track prosecution of cases of financial misappropriation and embezzlement in state agencies which have been uncovered by the Auditor-General.
“The President also did something this week that I want to applaud him for. Setting up the special courts to retrieve the monies from the Auditor-Generals. That is how we begin to bring people to accountability.
“Secondly, there must be something punitive. If you are a Chief Director, let’s demote you,” he emphasised.
Speaking on the same show, an anti-corruption crusader, Edem Senanu, has attributed the damning findings made by members of the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) committee to a weakness in the internal audit framework within the public service.
According to him, if the systems were effective, the cases of embezzlement and misappropriation of funds announced by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, during the Government Accountability series, would have been averted.
“It is a weakness in the internal audit system. Otherwise, all these infractions should have been detected,”Mr Senanu said.
“The internal audit system, made of Audit Report Implementation Committee (ARIC), they are all not working,” he added.
He stressed that public servants should learn to present themselves for accountability after serving the nation, “not run out of the jurisdiction.
