Former Auditor-General Daniel Yao Domelevo has reacted to $20.49 billion discovered by the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) preparatory team.
According to him, he would be extremely disappointed if President John Dramani Mahama and the Attorney General fail to take action on the report to ensure that the culprits are prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others.
“And that is my worry, I was very happy when he addressed my worry, and it is not like the previous government we can hold them accountable while we continue doing the same type of thing. So to me it is a good one. We hope to see action going forward.” He said.
“The president promised there would be action so I am very optimistic. Otherwise, I’ll be extremely disappointed in him and the Attorney General. If after we have sacrificed to do all this and they don’t subject these issues to proper investigations so that where people are found culpable, they can be held accountable.” Domelevo told Joynews.
“The President made a point which made me extremely happy, he didn’t talk only about ORAL, he talked about OPAL (Operation Prevent All Loots), that is the most important thing, yes. The leakage that has happened already let’s try and find out how we can mob it but we should prevent additional leakages.”
“Personally, this is my view, I think that we should move into recovering monies with some additional surcharges rather than just putting people in custody so that they can come back after five or ten years and enjoy their booty.
So if we think that we have won the case against Mr. A and he took 10 million, we should be aiming at maybe 15 or 20 million from him. And to me, a custodial sentence doesn’t help anything because the person will come back and enjoy his booty. Apart from that, we spend public funds keeping him or her in custody at the end of the day. And look at how our prisons are choked. If you want to do that, then we should go and empty the place and let the people with smaller offences go,” Domelevo said.
“But to be honest with you, my prayer is to ensure that we hold public officers to a higher level of accountability.
During the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) preparatory team presentation of the report at the Office of the President, the chairman of the committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, disclosed that “Thirty-six (36) cases that we have reviewed in detail if we are successful in recoveries, we can retrieve as much as $20.49 billion”
Source: Elvisanokyenews.com
