A member of the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) Committee, Daniel Yao Domelevo, has called for a stronger focus on recovering stolen state funds rather than imposing custodial sentences on offenders.

He made this statement in an interview with JoyNews’ Maxwell Agbagba following the presentation of the ORAL report to President John Dramani Mahama.

“Personally, I think that we should move into recovering monies with some additional surcharges rather than just putting people in custody so that they can come back after five or ten years to enjoy their booty,” Mr Domelevo stated.

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He argued that if an individual is found guilty of misappropriating public funds, efforts should be directed toward retrieving the lost amounts with significant penalties.

This, he explained is because a custodial sentence doesn’t help because the person will come back and enjoy his booty after serving a jail term.

“If we think that we have won the case against Mr. A and he took GH₵10 million, we should be aiming at maybe GH₵15 or GH₵20 million from him."

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The Former Auditor General also highlighted the financial burden of keeping convicts in overcrowded prisons, which further strains public resources.

He stressed the need for public officials to be held to the highest standards of accountability, ensuring that no one—regardless of their position—considers themselves above the law.

“My prayer is to ensure that we hold public offices to a higher level of accountability. Nobody should ever think that because I’m a President or a Minister, I am above the law."