The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has charged six persons in connection with alleged corrupt and fraudulent activities relating to government payroll.
The charge sheet filed before the High Court in Tamale, Northern Region, names the accused persons as Yakubu Tahidu, Abdulai Abukari Sadic, Sammy Suuk, Mohammed Yusif Jay, Stafford Korletey Azudey-Barres, and Osman Issahaku.
The six are facing a total of 17 counts of corruption, and have been accused by the Office of causing financial loss to the state.
The OSP on its website says the case arose from a referral by National Security, which alleged that Yakubu Tahidu, though no longer a teacher, continued to receive salaries while employed at another government agency.
The remaining accused are alleged to have knowingly facilitated or failed to prevent the fraudulent payments.
Yakubu Tahidu, formerly a teacher at Balogu M/A JHS, is accused of illegally receiving salaries after vacating his post to join the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC).
Abdulai Abukari Sadic, the Yendi Municipal IPPD Coordinator, and Sammy Suuk, a Schools Improvement Support Officer, are accused of facilitating salary validations for the first accused.
Mohammed Yusif Jay, the former headteacher of Balogu M/A JHS, allegedly validated the salaries despite being reassigned to another school.
Stafford Korletey Azudey-Barres, an Assistant Chief Accounts Technician at the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department, is alleged to have aided the processing of fraudulent payments.
Osman Issahaku, the current headteacher of Balogu M/A JHS, is accused of continuing to validate the irregular payments.
Investigation
In the last quarter of 2023, the OSP and the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) jointly commenced corruption risk assessment and investigation into suspected corruption and corruption-related offences in respect of Government Payroll Administration.
The assessment and investigation are especially aimed at isolating and removing the names of non-existent, ineligible, and undeserving persons from government payroll, recovering wrongful payments and unearned salaries, prosecuting persons suspected to be culpable for any offences, and the institution and implementation of internal controls in respect of payroll processing and payment of salaries.
To facilitate the roll-out of the investigation and assessment throughout the country, a pilot exercise was carried out in the Northern Region (covering educational institutions under Ghana Education Service and the Tamale Teaching Hospital) by a joint team, comprising investigators, tracers, and assessors from the OSP and selected staff of the Payroll Processing Directorate of CAGD between December 2023 and April 2024.
After thorough investigation, the OSP is now ready to commence the prosecution of persons suspected to have engaged in such conduct.
By Gibril Abdul Razak & Eric Kombat