The Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) has announced a collaboration with the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to investigate and prosecute individuals found culpable in payroll irregularities.  

This move followed concerns raised by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament about financial irregularities, including unearned salaries and overpayment of salaries, as cited in the 2024 Auditor-General’s report. 

“We shouldn’t just end at recovery… We should go beyond recovery. 

“The audit report will definitely indicate the recipients and their staff ID. We are working in collaboration with other security agencies, OSP, because if somebody did it, definitely we are using an Oracle system,” Controller and Accountant-General, Mr Kwasi Agyei said on Monday. 

He made the remarks when  Mr Thomas Ampem Nyarko, a Deputy Finance Minister, led the Ministry of Finance, the CAGD, the Ghana Revenue Authority, and other agencies under the ministry to appear before PAC to answer some questions on infractions highlighted in the 2024 Auditor-General’s report. 

Mr Agyei explained that the collaboration aimed to bring those responsible for payroll irregularities to book.  

“Madam Chair, once we get that, we will just exercise patience, and then definitely with the investigation, those culpable will be brought to book,” he stated. 

According to the Controller and Accountant-General, this development was expected to promote accountability and transparency in the management of public funds. 

He noted that the CAGD could easily identify perpetrators using the system’s audit trail.  

“There is an audit trail. We can go straight into the system and know and identify who actually possesses the allowance on that particular day. It is something very easy that we can do.” 

The PAC public hearing, which began on Monday, August 19, ended on Monday, August 25. 

The PAC is expected to reconvene on Monday, September 29, to examine the Auditor-General’s report on MDAs for the year ended December 31, 2024, Madam Abena Osei Asare, the Chairperson of PAC, announced after Monday’s public hearing in Parliament House, Accra.