Auditor-General to block salaries of public institutions for failing to respond to audit queries

Heads of Institutions who fail to respond to "audit observations" by the Auditor General after 30 days will have their salaries blocked, the Auditor General, Daniel Domelevo has said.

He said it was inappropriate for some heads of institutions to delay response to audit findings until they appear before the Public Accounts Committee, hence the need to invoke the sanction.

"We have started the audit report and once we get those infractions, we're going to stop it," he said.

Mr Domelevo was speaking at the first quarter Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programme organised by the 2013 year group of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Accra.

Touching on the theme 'The Role of the Auditor General in facilitating the work of the Special Prosecutor' he said all "fraudulent infractions" would be forwarded to the Special Prosecutor when it becomes functional.

"It is not deterrent enough if all we do is to recover the monies. Even if we recover the monies with interest, we still have to punish public enemies," he said.

Stressing the need to protect the public purse, Mr Domelevo said the Audit Service would also undertake lots of construction audits and surcharge contractors who do shoddy works.

"I have a team going round to check specifications of contracts and if they do not conform to standards, we will surcharge," he stated.

He urged heads of institutions to refrain from issuing illegal directives, as it was only an Act of Parliament that allowed public institutions to retain part of the revenue they have generated.