Former Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Inusah Fuseini, has said the findings from the government’s audit of public claims point to clear cases of criminal intent and wilful negligence within the system.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile programme on Saturday, March 14, the Member of Parliament for Tamale Central stressed that the scale of irregularities uncovered could not be dismissed as mere administrative errors.

Mr Fuseini argued that the nature of the discrepancies revealed in the audit suggests deliberate wrongdoing by individuals involved in the processing and approval of claims.

“There must be criminal intent and wilful negligence in what we are seeing,” he said.

“You cannot have duplicated invoices, unsupported documentation, and inflated claims running into billions of cedis and simply describe them as mistakes.”

The comments follow disclosures by the Ministry of Finance in Parliament that GH¢8.1 billion in public claims had been rejected after an audit uncovered irregularities, including duplication, inflated amounts, unsupported documentation, and payments for work that was never done.

Out of GH¢68.7 billion submitted for audit, GH¢45.4 billion was validated for payment, while GH¢13.2 billion was flagged for serious concerns.

Mr Fuseini emphasised that appropriate legal processes must now follow the audit findings.

He said individuals found culpable should be prosecuted to serve as a deterrent and restore public confidence in the management of state resources.

The Ministry of Finance has referred the findings to the Office of the Attorney-General and the Ministry of Justice for possible criminal prosecution. It has also announced a new “triple-lock” accountability framework to strengthen verification and budget controls before payments are approved.