The fate of Auditor General, Daniel Domelovo regarding a contempt of court case brought against him, will be decided by an Accra High Court on April 1, 2020.
The Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo is in court asking that Mr. Domelovo be punished for failing to respond to his case challenging a $1m surcharge on him.
His lawyers want the court to either impose a prison term or any appropriate sanctions against Mr Domelovo.
The Auditor General’s office had insisted that 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.
The Commercial Division of the High was earlier hearing the case but the Chief Justice called for the case document after a referral from the manager of the court. A statement released by the Judicial Secretary explained that the case docket was requested by the Chief Justice to correct key filing errors.
It added the case should have been filed at the Financial and Economic Division instead of the Commercial Division.
The office therefore transferred the case to one of the court’s in the division presided over by Justice Afia Asare Botwe.
Justice Botwe on Friday said she wanted the matter to be disposed off expeditiously. She asked the lawyers whether they would want to make oral arguments.
Yaw Oppong who represents the Senior Minister and Thaddeus Sory who represents the auditor General both agreed to rely on written arguments. She therefore adjourned the case to April 1 to deliver her ruling.
The substantive case on whether or not the $1m surcharge on the Senior Minister should be set aside has also been adjourned to the same date.
Source: Joy News | Joseph Ackah-Blay