The immediate past Bursar of the Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School (PRSEC), Legon, Mr Gyeni Sampong, has admitted his complicity the embezzlement of over GHc200,000 (2 billion cedis) belonging to the school. According to the Daily Graphic, in a hand-written letter to the Audit Report Implementation Committee (ARIC) of the Ghana Education Service (GES), the former bursar accepted the findings of an audit team which he had hitherto rejected, promising to refund the money. His acceptance comes after months of denials, accusations and counter-accusations. In the letter, which was co-signed by Joseph Jecty Asare, the immediate past Headmaster, as witness, the former bursar proposed to pay the money in instalments, starting with a 70 million cedis down payment at the end of November. After that, he will pay 10 million cedis every month. The Daily Graphic, quoting its sources, said following allegations of impropriety against the bursar, the GES set up a committee of inquiry to probe the affairs of the school. After preliminary investigations, the committee, which was chaired by Mr. Charles Antwi Konadu, a Deputy Chief Internal Auditor of the service, recommended, among others, that the school's accounts be audited from the 2002/2003 academic year to August 2006. Other recommendations of the committee, which was commissioned by the then Director of Education for the Greater Accra Region, Mrs Akosua Adu, included the transfer of the bursar and the redeployment of the headmaster. The audit report on the accounts of the school was completed and presented on December 27, 2006 to Mr J.M. Quao, the Chief Internal Auditor of the GES. According to the report, "there were no checks and balances in the control framework, particularly control over revenue collection, writing of the Cash Book and bank reconciliation". The report concluded that the bursar, therefore, succeed in willfully suppressing revenue to the tune school. It, therefore, recommended that the amount be retrieved in full from the bursar and paid to the school's bank account and appropriate disciplinary action taken against him. It called for immediate corrective measures to strengthen financial administration to pre-empt further embezzlement of school funds. The report also identified blatant flouting of laid down procedures in the disbursement of school funds while the school authorities omitted to deduct taxes on taxable transactions. It said where taxes were deducted, they failed to remit same to the Internal Revenue Service. In response to the report, Mr Asare appealed for pardon for any inconvenience their actions and inaction raised in the report might have caused. Source: Daily Graphic