Auditors said GSL pre-financed purchases - Accountant

Accra, Sept. 7, GNA - Mr Isaac Enim, Principal Accountant of the Ghana School of Law (GSL), on Wednesday alleged that external auditors once expressed the suspicion that the GSL was pre-financing the purchase of textbooks, but the Registrar denied this.

According to him when it came to the purchase of books, he never actually saw books being purchased in deed.

He said anytime money was approved for the purchase of books, officials from Read Wide, a book selling company, either came for the money or Mr Ansa-Asare sent the money to the Company.

Mr Enim said after taking his accumulated leave from June 14 2004 to July 26 2005, he was not re-assigned to his former position but was asked to hold on when he reported the matter to the Acting Chief Accountant. He said he had since been waiting to be assigned. Mr Matison Esin Budu, a security guard with the GSL, said he developed hypertension as a result of bullying and harassment at the hands of Mr Ansa-Asare.

Among other allegations, he said Mr Ansa-Asare ordered that his promotion be withheld, although all the rest of his colleagues had been promoted.

He said because the gate he was supposed to man lacked shelter, he often stood under a nearby tree, but Mr Ansa-asare would often insist that he got back into the scorching sun to continue with his work. Mr Alfred Gyima-Baako, who worked as a storekeeper, said he was wrongfully made to retire by Mr Ansa-Asare in October 2004 at the age of 59.

He alleged that although the Chief Accountant prepared his salary and other allowances, which were due him, Mr Ansa-Asare asked that they be cancelled.

According to him, Mr Ansa-Asare also withheld his promotion. Ms Justina Tetteh Donkor, Senior Partner in Justin and Associates in Accra, petitioned the Committee to assist her client, US-based Three Sigma Incorporated, to retrieve an amount of 278,000 dollars from Mr Ansa-Asare which, she said, was money that Mr Ansa-Asare owed the company.

She said sometime in 2000, under a contract of sale between Three Sigma and Scandinavian Ventures (SV), a Ghanaian-based company, 4,000 tonnes of rice was shipped to SV through the Tema Port. Ms Donkor said under the contract, SV was to pay Three Sigma within 120 days the cedi equivalent of 550,000 dollars, which was the cost of the rice consignment.

She said a retailer whom she identified as Priscilla, bought the rice consignment from SV, but she did not pay according to schedule. Ms Donkor said Mr Ansa-Asare was then contacted as a lawyer to assist in retrieving the money. As a result, Mr Ansa-Asare together with two of the directors of SV travelled to the US to hold negotiations with Three Sigma in order to explain why payment by SV had been delayed. Ms Donkor said Mr Ansa-Asare managed to retrieve the money from the retailer for SV.

She said Mr Ansa-Asare was given 550,000 dollars by SV to pay to Three Sigma out of which Mr Ansa-Asare paid only 272,000 dollars. Ms Donkor said she was petitioning the Committee as a last resort since she had already reported the matter to a number of State agencies without any results. Sitting continues on Thursday.