The Accra High Court has been asked to cite the Auditor-General for contempt for ‘failing to cooperate in a $1million Kroll and Associates case.’
The Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Maafo who is asking for this notes the Auditor-General (A-G) Daniel Domelevo has failed to file his reply to him in court within the stipulated time.
Yaw Osafo Maafo is in court to appeal the A-G’s decision to slap a $1m surcharge on him.
Auditor-General orders Osafo-Maafo to refund GH¢5.5m ‘paid’ to UK consultancy firm
Yaw Oppong who is legal counsel for the Senior Minister said Mr. Domelovo was served with the responses of his client on December 13, 2029.
Procedurally, the A-G is required to file his response to the appeal within 14 days.
“Not filing it 14 days after the service, that is what constitutes contempt” Yaw Oppong told JoyNews in an interview monitored by theghanareport.com.
Contempt of court could carry a jail sentence and the legal practitioner said it has left the High Court to use its discretion to decide this fate.
The fresh fight over technicalities is on the sidelines of the actual fight between the President’s most senior minister who has been surcharged $1m by the A-G.
Osafo Maafo moves to challenge $1m surcharge by Auditor-General
Daniel Domelevo insists, Yaw Osafo Maafo wrongfully caused $1m to be paid a UK-based consultancy firm, Kroll and Associates, to undertake investigations on behalf of the government.
He has pointed out, there was no valid contract between the UK Company and the Ghana government when Kroll & Associates began work in 2017.
Their work was to “review electronic evidence, identify assets abroad and manage a joint Civil and Criminal Assets recovery process.”
But the A-G has cast doubt on whether the job has been executed.
The Senior Minister insists the work has been done and is still being done. But he would not reveal some of the work being carried out, explaining it borders on national security.
The court is expected to hear the contempt suit on February 1, 2020.