Public Servant Reportedly Made Over GH¢427 Million in Unearned Salaries in Less Than 3 Years

• Ghanaian senior civil servant Frank Oliver Kpodo has been accused of pocketing GH¢427 million in unearned salaries
• Over 6,000 government employees received GH¢800 million in undue pay, with Kpodo reportedly benefiting the most
• Kpodo denied the allegations, claiming the processing was above board and that pay slips can be independently verified

A new investigative report from The Fourth Estate has flagged a senior civil servant at the Ghanaian Ministry of Defence who allegedly received over GH¢427 million in unearned salaries over 29 months.

This meant the employee, Frank Oliver Kpodo, who was the Director of Procurement at the Ministry, was claimed to be making an average of more than GH¢14 million per month between 2023 and 2025.

The Fourth Estate reported that Kpodo's alleged unearned salaries were also in a recent Auditor-General report on government salaries between January 2023 and June 2025.

According to the expose, the Auditor-General noted that over 6,000 government employees received more than GH¢800 million in unearned salaries.

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Of this amount, Kpodo benefited from more than half of that amount, standing at an estimated GH¢427 million.

To put the scale of the alleged theft in perspective, the amount was more than the budgetary allocation to the Transport Ministry of GH¢151 million.

Public servant denies unearned salary allegations

Kpodo moved to the Ministry of Defence in 2018, where his role as Director of Procurement drew considerable scrutiny and consternation at a recent hearing of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament.

In his Payroll Audit Report for 2025, the Auditor-General recommended that the public servant's name be deleted from the payroll, along with 6,000 others.

Kpodo responded to the allegations and denied any wrongdoing, and also claimed that the findings were surprising to him.

He said his salaries were processed through the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department, and he has pay slips that can be independently verified.

Akufo-Addo appointee accused of payroll fraud

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There have been some other notable instances of payroll fraud involving top public servants.

Notably, the former Director-General of the National Service Authority, Osei Assibey Antwi, was posted as a volunteer within the national service scheme while he was an appointee.

According to the technical and forensic audit of the National Service Authority, this occurred during the 2022/2023 service year, about a year after he took office.

The Fourth Estate reported that he was assigned an EZWICH card and posted to the Greater Accra region after his registration.

However, auditors said the payroll records indicated that he was assigned to the Kumawu Farms, a 200-acre farmland in the Ashanti Region.

According to the report, Antwi was paid GH¢516,000 every month for 16 months, totalling GH¢8,256,000.

The Akufo-Addo administration appointee is also facing charges in connection with the National Service Scheme scandal, which led to losses of GH¢548 million.

ORAL identifies $21B in suspected looted funds

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YEN.com.gh also reported that the ORAL Preparatory Committee had identified $21.19 billion in potential recoveries.

The committee handed over its report to the man who requested its creation, President John Mahama, on February 2, 2025.

Proofreading by Bruce Douglas, copy editor at YEN.com.gh.

Source: YEN.com.gh