Missing GH¢52.5 Billion: Chartered Accountant Petitions Parliament Over Unexplained Withdrawal In 2020

• A Ghanaian citizen has petitioned Parliament's Public Accounts Committee over the mysterious transfer of a huge amount of money from the government's account in 2020
• Mike Kofi Afflu said in the petition that GH¢52.5 billion was transferred from the government's GCB account into an unknown account
• According to him, the Audit Service started tracing the strange transaction but suddenly stopped midway without an explanation

A private citizen Mike Kofi Afflu has petitioned Parliament to trace the whereabouts of some GH¢52.5 billion that in 2020 was transferred from a government account into an unknown account.

The petition explained that the Auditor-General found that the money had been transferred from a GCB account to the unknown account and had been demanding answers from the bank.

Afflu, a former president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accounts Ghana, wants the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament to get to the bottom of the matter.

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"The USD GHS average rate for October 2020 was 5.77522. The amount of GH¢52.5 [billion] was, therefore, equivalent to $9.1 billion.

"Mr. Chairman, if this GH¢52.5 billion (from GRA Account) had been transferred to the Bank of Ghana as mandated by Law, Ghana would not have gone to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the bailout of $3 billion," Afflu said in his petition.

Who authorised the transfer?

The letter addressed to the Chairman of PAC explained that in a letter dated October 5, 2020, from the Audit Service to the Managing Director of GCB Bank Plc, the Auditor-General asked the bank to explain why the huge funds were transferred from the bank into an unknown account.

The respected chartered accountant recounts that since that letter, the Auditor-General has not provided any explanation to the Ghanaian Taxpayer.

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He, therefore, asked PAC to get the following answers from the GCB Bank:

• Where the money was transferred to.
• Who authorised that amount to be transferred by the bank?
• Into what account was the money transferred.
• Details of the recipient account and any related issues.

He also wants PAC to summon the Auditor-General for a thorough explanation of the matter.

“We want to know who withdrew that amount of money from the GCB Bank Plc and for what,” stressed.

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Mahama said if he was the president of Ghana, he would have met with the affected investors to understand their situation.

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Source: YEN.com.gh