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

• Senior civil servant Frank Oliver Kpodo accused of pocketing GH¢427 million in unearned salaries
• Over 6,000 government employees received GH¢800 million in unearned salaries, with Kpodo taking more than half
• Kpodo denies allegations, claiming pay slips are independently verifiable and processing was above board

A new investigative report from The Fourth Estate has flagged a senior civil servant at the Ministry of Defence who 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 of Defence, was making an average of more than GH¢14 million per month between 2023 and 2025.

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

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

Of this amount, Kpodo benefited from more than half of this amount, which was the GH¢427 million.

To put the scale of the alleged theft in perspective, the GH¢427 million was more than the budgetary allocation to the Transport Ministry, which was given GH¢151 million.

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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 Kpodo’s name be deleted from the payroll, along with 6,000 others.

Kpodo responded to the allegations and denied any wrongdoing. He also said the findings were surprising.

According to him, 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

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.

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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.

But auditors say the payroll records indicate 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.

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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

YEN.com.gh reported that the ORAL Preparatory Committee, established by President John Mahama, had identified $21.19 billion in potential recoveries.

The Preparatory Committee handed over its report to President John Mahama on February 2, 2025.

Source: YEN.com.gh