Naagyei 90.3 Fm Agyapa
Daniel Yaw Domelovo, a former auditor general, has questioned whether the nation’s Assets Declaration Law is functional in its present form.
He claimed that the law is not functional and effective in its current shape during an interview on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday.
He contends that the Assets Declaration Bill currently before Parliament has to be improved.
The Assets and Liabilities statement made by office holders in the nation must be taken seriously. We both concur that the legislation as it is right now is a farce, he said to Samson Lardy Anyenini.
He explained that if the law had been in force, it might have sped up investigations into the alleged “stolen money case” involving Cecilia Abena Dapaah, a former sanitation minister.
“If the declaration was correctly done and verified, I think some of the claims date as far back as 2003 or 2005 – that was when she was in the previous NPP administration, so we could have gone there to see whether those things were declared, properly verified, and existed and it would have helped the investigation and also been published.”
The former Sanitation Minister’s deceased brother’s bank account was actively transmitting money to the former Minister, according to the most recent court records submitted by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP). This information was disclosed in Mr. Domelevo’s statement.
The former Minister is supposedly in possession of millions of cedis, the source of which the Office of the Special Prosecutor claims she was unable to prove, according to exclusive copies of documents obtained by JoyNews and filed in court by the OSP.
OSP claims that Cecilia Dapaah’s deceased brother’s account is still paying money to a previous minister.
The Office has made several attempts to corroborate the confiscation of allegedly tainted properties belonging to Madam Dapaah, but this is the most recent.
In response, the former Auditor-General suggested that prudence be used in the situation to avoid breaking the court’s rules.
He also demanded the implementation of a lifestyle audit.
He claims that this will act as a preventative tool to scrutinise and hold responsible public officials “when we think their lifestyle is not in sync with their resources.”
It can also aid in limiting the extent to which public holders can misuse public monies, he continued.
