Over 1,000 auctioned vehicles unaccounted for – Auditor General

The 2018 Auditor-General’s report has revealed a total of 1,719 vehicles that were confiscated by the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) between 2015 and 2017 and auctioned by the authority cannot be accounted for.

The report goes on to say the GRA officials provided information on just 669 vehicles with no ample proof of the exact amount accrued to the state from the auction of those vehicles.

Addressing the media on Thursday, a Deputy Auditor-General at the Central Government Audit Department of the Audit Service, Mr. George Swanzy Winful, said the act had resulted in huge revenue losses to the state.

“We sampled 2,388 of those vehicles for review in our audit exercise to find out if revenue was properly collected and if those proceeds were paid into the consolidated fund and realised that the 1,719 could not be accounted for,” he said.

He reiterated the information only covered 669 vehicles and other relevant documents was not provided.

“As a result, it was difficult for us to agree with them on the reliability of the revenue that was realised from the sale of the 669 vehicles,” he said.

Mr. Winful is urging Ghanaians  to rise up and demand from Parliament stiffer and deterrent laws to inflict severe sanctions on public officials who loot state coffers with impunity.