According to Auditor-General Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, management of PSC Tema Shipyard paid over GHC800,000 to 53 service providers without a contract or agreement to determine the type of services they will provide.
This is in the Auditor-report General’s on public boards, corporations, and statutory bodies for 2021.
However, the company’s management has blamed the anomaly on the Covid-19 pandemic, which made contracting with service providers difficult.
According to the audit report, the audit team only saw payment vouchers with signed lists and bills from service providers, so it was unable to compare the work done to what was expected and the unit price charged.
Furthermore, the Auditor-General revealed that the Shipyard paid a total of GH263,455.35 to the Maritime Labour Organization as service fees without providing evidence of work done.
To authenticate the payments, the Auditor-General has recommended that the Chief Executive Officer and the Head of Finance produce the contract agreement, evidence of work done, and the basis for the amount paid.
In its latest report to Parliament for the fiscal year 2021, the Auditor-General identified a total of 17.4 billion in financial irregularities.
Also read: 2021 Audit Report carried out in accordance with INTOSAI
This represents a 36% increase over the 2020 figure. This is the conclusion reached by the Auditor-General following an audit of at least 101 institutions’ accounts.
Similar audit reports on institutions conducted in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 reveal irregularities totaling GH 12 billion, GH 3 billion, GH 5.4 billion, and GH 12.8 billion, respectively.
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