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Peacefmonline.com is in possession of documents from the Attorney General’s Department suggesting that embattled Deputy Electoral Commissioner Georgina Opoku Amankwah and two others, could be cleared of any malfeasance following a probe into the GH¢480,000 believed to have gone missing from the EC’s Senior Staff Endowment Fund.

The seven-page report indicates that the focus of the EOCO investigation was on Samuel Yorke Aidoo, the then Director of Finance, as well as Ishmael Pensah, a former Chief Accountant, who no longer works with the EC.

The three were interdicted in July last year over the missing money to allow for investigations into the matter.

Dated January 10, 2018, the report signed by Evelyn Keelson, Chief State Attorney on behalf of the Attorney-General, and addressed to the Executive Director of EOCO, among other things stated "until a comprehensive audit is conducted into the Endowment Fund of the staff of the Electoral Commission, it would be difficult to firmly establish the commission of any malfeasance."

It however unclear what action EOCO will take in light of the A-G's report, whether it will go ahead to conduct "a comprehensive independent forensic audit of the staff Endowment Fund of the Commission", as recommended by agency described as the protector of the state legal interest and the enforcer of the criminal laws, or let the matter rest; thereby absolving.

Below is a full text of the Attorney-General's report on the matter which was forwarded to EOCO.


Republic

Vrs

1. Samuel Yorke Aidoo

2. Ishmael Pensah

We write with reference to your letter numbered EOCO/CD/012/V.57/38 dated 20th September 2017, our advice to you with reference number XA 448/17 dated 9th November 2017 and your subsequent undated investigative report sent to our office in December 2017 by the investigator in the case, DSO Patience Lamptey on the above mentioned case and make the following observations:

FACTS

1. The facts of the case are that, sometime in 2016, concerns were raised by staff of the Electoral Commission (EC) in Accra over some monies allegedly missing from their Endowment Fund which set up in 2009 to cater for the needs of the staff on their retirement.

2. The Fund consists of contributions of staff members deducted from their monthly salaries by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department. These contributions are periodically transferred into the Commission’s Main Account at the Bank of Ghana.

3. The contributions are subsequently transferred from the commission’s main account to an investment fund account numbered 00010100087830 at the NDK Financial services.

4 Between March and October 2014, a total amount of GH80, 177.87 was transferred as deductions by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department into the commission’s main account as Endowment fund contributions from staff. This amount of money was supposed to be transferred into the investment fund account at the NDK financial services for the period of March to October 2014.

5. Even though the amount of GH480, 177.87 was duly received into the commission’s main account, it was not applied to the intended period of March to October 2014.

6. The records show, however, that an amount of GH354, 016.57 was invested at NDK financial services rather for the period of July to December 2013. It is not clear what happened with the balance of GH126, 161.3 from the sum of GH480, 177.87.

7. This created an investment gap in the Endowment Fund that forms the subject matter of the complaint by the staff of the commission which still remains to be accounted for.

B. Statements on the docket

1. Mrs. Charlotte Osei

a. Mrs. Charlotte Osei, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, told investigators at the EOCO that her attention was drawn to the alleged missing funds in November 2015 by executives of the Electoral Commission union and Senior Staff Association. She enquired from her two deputies on the status of the Endowment Fund but she received no response from them.

b. In February 2016, the executives of the Union reiterated their concerns over the missing monies from the Fund in a meeting with Members of the Commission According to Mrs. Charlotte Osei, Mrs. Georgina Opoku Amankwaa, the Deputy chairperson in change of Finance and Administration and also the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Fund, informed the meeting that the monies were not transferred into the Endowment Fund and had been used to meet operational .expenses of the commission with the intention of it being refunded by the commission.

c. It was decided at the meeting that further clarification on the application of the money be sought from the 1st Suspect, Samuel Yorke Aidoo, the then Director of Finance, and the 2nd suspect, Ishmael Pensah, a former Chief Accountant, who were directly responsible for the transfer of contributions into the investment Fund Account at NDK Financial Services.

d. Mrs. Charlotte Osei further stated that the responses provided by the two suspects were not adequate since there were no vouchers to show what the money intended for investment had been used for. The Internal Auditor of the commission was therefore directed to conduct audit into the staff Endowment Fund which was…

2. Mrs. Georgina Opoku Amankwaa

a. In her statement to EOCO, Mrs. Georgina Opooku Amankwaa states inter-alia that the issue was brought to her attention in 2015 before Mrs. Charlotte Osei took office as the Chairperson of the EC.

b. She found out that the 1st suspect who had then retired from the commission had borrowed money from the Fund for operational activities of the commission and informed the then Chairman of the commission, Dr. Afari Gyan, about the matter.

c. Both Dr. Afari Gyan and herself were surprised by the discovery since none of them had authorized any such expenditure.

d. When the 1st suspect was questioned about the status of the Fund, he failed to give any plausible explanation. It was therefore preceded that an investigation of the Fund be conducted but that could not be done before the new Chairperson Mrs. Charlotte Osei took office.

e. She found out subsequently that an internal audit which was conducted at the behest of Mrs. Charlotte Osei disclosed that the alleged missing GH480, 177, 87 was used for the commission’s work.

f. She called a meeting of the beneficiaries, the Internal Auditor and the Chief Accountant where the internal Auditor informed the meeting that the money was not missing but had been used for official purposes. Thereafter, she duly informed the commission of the outcome of the meeting.

g. Stated further that even though, she is the chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Endowment Fund; she is not responsible for day to day management of the Fund.


3. Kwaku Owusu Agyei-Larbi

Kwaku Owusu Agyei-Larbi, Chief Accountant at the Electoral Commission, stated in his statement that the outstanding deductions for the eight months period of March to OCTOBER 2014 OF THE Endowment Fund were not paid into the investment Fund Account because same had been used for some operational activities by the commission.

4. Joseph Kwaku Asamoah

Joseph Kwaku Asamoah is the Director of Finance at the Electoral Commission. He told EOCO that he was not in a position to answer questions about the Fund for the period between 2012 and 2014 since he was the Director of Finance for this period under investigations.

5. Samuel Yorke Aidoo (1st suspect)

a. The 1st suspect, Samuel Yorke Aidoo, was the Director of Finance of the Commission during the period under investigation. He state that the monies which were outstanding on the Endowment Fund were not paid into the investment Fund Account because the monies had been transferred from the Commission’s main account into the commission’s operations account for use by the commission during a period of financial crisis.

b. He claims that the commission was in serious financial crisis, a situation which was known to all members of the financial division of the commission, including the then Chairperson of the commission, Dr. Afari Gyan.

c. As a result, an application was made to the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to transfer the Endowment Fund contributions standing in the main Account of the Commission, (which was intended to be invested with NDK) into the Operational Account of the commission fort eh use of the commission.

d. According to his statement, the application for the transfer to BoG was signed by the Deputy Chairperson in charge of Finance and Administration, Mrs. Georgina Opoku Amankwa.

e. He however stated that the request for the said transfer to BoG was in respect of an amount of GH110,950.00

6. Ishmael Pensah (2nd suspect)

Ishmael Pensah the 2nd suspect, was the chief accountant of the commission (who has left the employ of the commission) state that he had no idea about the details of the case and that whoever disbursed the money should be able to provide the details.


C. Outcome of Investigations

1. Investigations by the EOCO revealed that Endowment contributions of an amount of GHc480,177.87 which was to be transferred into an investment Fund Account at NDK Financial services for the period of March to October 2014 was received into the commission’s main account from the controller and accountant general’s office.

2. The amount of GHc480, 177.87 was however never transferred into the Investment Fund Account at NDK for the required period of March to October 2014.

3. Moreover investigations reveled that out all amount of GHc480,177.87 meant for investment for the period of March to October 2014 only an amount of GHc354,016.57 was transferred into the investment fund account at NDK to cover arrears of investment for the period of July to December 2013 instead of the Intended period of March to October 2014.

The contributions received from the Controller and Accountant General’s Department for the period of July to December 2013 therefore remain outstanding.