The Director-General of the Internal Audit Agency, Eric Oduro Osae, has jumped to the defence of past and current judges of Ghana’s superior courts who were cited in the Auditor-General’s report for unlawfully purchasing vehicles.
Mr. Osae said attacks against the judges were needless, as they only benefitted from the existing practice of auctioning uncleared vehicles at the port.
He pointed out that administrators at the judicial service should rather be held liable for failing to seek approval from the Finance Ministry and adhere to strict administrative standards in auctioning the vehicles.
“I think our judges are of high moral standing, and I still believe that. When you look at the Auditor General’s report, it just indicates that there was no written approval as required by the Public Financial Management Regulation before the disposal was made… The judges have done nothing wrong in my view. I think it is an administrative lapse which occurred in the process and this can easily be corrected,” he explained.
The vehicles according to the Auditor General were auctioned by the Judicial Service for GH¢1,023,507.96 without approval from the Minister of Finance”.
This contravenes Regulation 158 of the Public Financial Management Regulations, 2019 (L.I. 2378) which requires that the principal spending officer of a covered entity obtains written approval of the Minister for the transfer, exchange, sale, donation, contribution -in-kind, trust, and any other disposal of any vehicle.
Judges cited in the report included Yaw Appau, E.K Mensah, and Julius Ansah.
The Auditor General recommended the nullification of the auctioned vehicles to the judges.
credit:citinewsroom.