Auditor General will soon cut salaries of public officials cited for misappropriation in the Auditor's report and delay or refused to respond to queries from the Department.
Auditor General Daniel Domelevo said there is an Auditor Service Act 28(2) which mandates the Auditor General to within 30 days of which public officials delay or refused to respond to queries from the Auditor General cut their salaries.
According to him, it has been long overdue as the Auditor Service has been sleeping on the Act and the time has come for the Service to activate the Act to force public officials found culpable to refund state monies misappropriated.
Some public officials cited for misappropriations in the Auditor General's report either pay part of the monies or did not pay at all.
Auditor General Daniel Domelevo believes with the activation of the Act public officials will have no choice than to pay back monies owed the state.
Auditor General seeks prosecutorial powers
Auditor General has revealed that an application for a fiat has been placed before the Attorney General for the Department to be able to prosecute corrupt officials.
Daniel Dormelevo said in their quest not to just publish findings of their report with no action taken against officials found culpable, the Auditor General's Department has written to the Attorney General for them to be granted the powers to prosecute.
In a radio interview, Daniel Domelevo has confirmed that the Attorney General has written to them acknowledging receipt of the application.
Lawyer and member of Occupy Ghana Ace Ankomah noted the fiat application by the Auditor General is doable if the country is committed to it.
He said Article 88(4) of the 1992 Constitution allows the AG to delegate some of this powers to institutions to prosecute on their behalf as done for EOCO and the Ghana Police Service.
Ace Ankomah said the only thing that needs to be done is for the AG to carefully think through how the powers will be distributed and demarcation should clearly be drawn to avoid jurisdiction conflict.
www.primenewsghana.com/Â Ghana News
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