Audit service charged for spending 7.6 million GHC on cars

General News on Thursday, March 21, 2019

Source: citinewsroom.com

2019-03-21

The Public Procurement Authority has indicted the Ghana audit service for the controversial purchase of some 32 vehicles by the service.

It appeared in September 2018 that the audit department had spent 7.6 million Ghanaian cedis from combined funding sources of its 2017 budget allocation and the United States Agency for International Development. (USAID) to procure these vehicles while violating government procurement regulations.

Although the Service denied the allegations of impropriety, the case was referred to the Procurement Officer for investigation.

Sources from the public procurement authority told Citi News that the investigations were over and that a report had been submitted to the Attorney General's Department for review and further action.

Citi News understands that the report confirms the breaches of the methods used by the audit service for the controversial purchase.

It orders, however, that the supplier be paid to avoid a case of financial loss to the State.

The report, according to Citi News sources, also calls into question the constitution of the offer of entities of the audit service, claiming that it did not comply with the procedures established by the law of the service.

We did not make any mistakes when buying 32 vehicles – Audit Service

The verification service refuted allegations that it had bought the vehicles illegally in order to conduct its operations across the country.

She stated that she had followed the procedure for the purchase of the 32 vehicles and that the purchase of the vehicles had been subject to a national competitive bidding process.

It also noted that, even though the cost of the vehicles was above the approved limit, the Central Tender Review Board had given the required concurrent authorization to exceed the initial limit.

"It was also alleged that we had bought 27 vehicles at a cost of 7.6 million GH ¢. It's still wrong. We bought 32 vehicles at 6,870,511.65; it was alleged that the contract had been purchased from the "Audit Service 2017" budget allocation. This is false: the market was purchased from the 2018 budget allocation, "said the audit department.

The Service has also badured the public of its commitment to the protection of its public funds and will comply with all laws in the execution of its mandate.

"We would like to badure the public that the vehicles have been truly purchased and are used to perform multiple audits across the country. The audit service is rebaduring the public that our fundamental mandate is to protect public funds. We will continue to honor this call and respect the law. "