Auditor General to begin retrieving misappropriated funds by next month- Ace

The Auditor General has vowed to surcharge heads of ministries, departments and agencies which have misapplied funds as it seeks to fight corruption in the country.

This comes almost a year after pressure group Occupy Ghana threatened to sue the Auditor General for failing to exercise his constitutional powers and check state institutions misapplying national resources.

Occupy Ghana in November last year demanded that the A-G begins the process to recover all stolen monies or risk being sued in court.

Leading member of the pressure group, Ace Ankomah told Joy News it has helped the Auditor General get the needed framework to enable them retrieve all stolen funds.

"You recall that the initial response of the Auditor-General was almost snobbish. 'You can't tell us what to do. In fact come and let us educate you'. Finally, they called a meeting and conceded that we were right and that it was something they had never done and actually asked for our help.

"They proposed a joint working group; two from Auditor General, two from Occupy Ghana and one from Attorney-General's [Department]," he told Joy News.

He said the group has presented a working paper that will guide the execution of the task of surcharging individuals responsible for misappropriation of public funds.

Ace Ankomah complained about delays in getting a response from the Rules of Court Committee which is supposed to set the rules to guide appeals against surcharges and actions taken by the Auditor-General. This has stalled the stalled the process, he stated..

He is however, believes that in a month's time, the work of Occupy Ghana will be seen when the Auditor General issues surcharges against public officials and institutions found to have misappropriated funds.