Myjoyonline.com has secured exclusive details of the charges against the Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelevo, who is being probed by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).

Mr Domelevo has been accused of acting in breach of the Public Procurement Law, 2003, ACT 663, following the purchase of vehicles worth almost GH¢6.2 million from Toyota Ghana Limited for the Audit Service.

Accusation

Key among the offences against Mr Domelevo is how the Audit Service approved a contract worth almost GH¢6.2 million when it did not have the power to do so.  

According to the charge sheet, the entity tender committee at the Audit Service exceeded the limited amount of what it can approve in giving its blessing to the contract of ¢6.1 million.

He is also facing a charge for the failure of the Audit Service to appoint persons with requisite skills to the evaluation panel of its procurement committee.

The Head of the Audit Service has also been made to answer to a query on why he allowed his deputy in charge of administration to chair the entity tender committee when he (Domelevo) should be the one leading.

EOCO also demanded a response from Mr Domelevo as to why representatives from two key agencies – Attorney-General’s Department and Parliament – were not attending meetings held by the procurement committee.

Response

Mr Domelevo, who has filed a suit at the Human Rights Division of the High Court, challenging the action by the anti-corruption agency, has responded to each of the charges levelled against him by EOCO.

Responding to the charge that his outfit exceeded the limit of the amount it was entitled to, the Auditor-General Auditor-General concedes and said, that is the PPA's investigations, which established value for money, nonetheless, essentially ratified by directing them to make payment to Toyota Ghana Limited to avoid judgement debts.

Regarding the charge of why the Service didn't constitute the evaluation panel with people of the right skills, Myjoyonline.com learnt Mr Domelevo threw the question back at EOCO investigators, asking which of the tenderers EOCO would have selected.

Interestingly, the EOCO investigators also said same Toyota Ghana.

The Auditor-General responding to the charge that the Audit Service didn't constitute the entity tender committee properly in that it should have been chaired by him instead of his deputy in charge of administration insisted that, for independent constitutional bodies, it is the head of administration who must chair the entity tender (procurement) committee.

In his response to the charge that the entity tender committee didn't form a quorum due to the absence of representatives from the Attorney-General's Department Parliament, Daniel Domelevo said he didn't constitute this committee and that he came to meet it.

According to him, when he found out that the Attorney-General and Parliament's representatives were not attending, he complained to the appropriate authorities, followed up with a formal letter requesting representatives and later sent reminder letters on the same subject.

He ended by explaining that a quorum of the chairperson and three others is what is required.