Government will consider charges to be brought against past government officials over their alleged involvement in fraud, embezzlement and misappropriation of state funds when forensic auditors engaged by the new administration finish their work, a deputy minister of finance has announced.
The deputy minister, Kwaku Kwarteng said anybody who appropriated the nation’s funds would not escape the long arm of the law, and that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, led by President Akufo-Addo, would be looking at prosecuting such individuals in order to serve as deterrent for other like-minded politicians and public officials.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the Obuasi West Constituency of the NPP’s annual delegates’ conference in the Ashanti Region, the deputy finance minister, who doubles as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, disclosed that the new government had unearthed the misappropriation and misapplication of state funds upon assuming power.
He reiterated government’s commitment to retrieving all state funds that had gone to wrongful hands, asserting that prosecution and retrieval were non-negotiable.
“The government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is well determined to deal ruthlessly with anyone who has embezzled or misappropriated the nation’s funds. The president wants to punish such people to serve as deterrent to his appointees,” he noted.
Mr. Kwarteng said the government is also focused on reviving AngloGold Ashanti (AGA), Obuasi Mine, as pledged during the electioneering campaign so as to bring relief to the teeming unemployed youth in the area.
“There have been a lot of meetings and consultations between government and officials of AGA. They have even had audience with the president himself, and I am hopeful the company will be revived very soon,” he disclosed.
According to him, NPP government would reconstruct the Obuasi-Anwiankwanta Road to save the numerous lives lost on that stretch of the road through motor accidents.