The man accused of receiving kick back while serving as the Executive Director of the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Dr George Ben Crentsil, is in the news again.
This time, Dr Crentsil has been indicted for receiving double salary for six years while in active service at GSA.
The latest revelation was captured in the 2020 Auditor-General’s Report on the audit of statutory boards and corporations.
According to the report, Dr Crentsil, between January 2011 and January 2017 received double salary-related allowances of GH¢342,068.70.
“Dr George Ben Crentsil, the former Executive Director, was paid double salary-related allowances of GH¢342,068.70 by the Authority from January 2011 to January 2017.
“We recommended to Management to take the necessary steps to recover GH¢342,068.70 wrongly paid to Dr George Ben Crentsil, the former Executive Director and our office informed for verification,” the report stated.
According to the audit report, while the GSA paid GH¢342,068.70 to the former Executive Director, he was also drawing similar salary from the Controller and Accountant General Department, raising a case of double payments.
“We noted from the review of the personnel files of the separated staff that Dr. George Ben Crentsil, the former Executive Director was paid double salary related allowances from January 2011 to January 2017,” the report indicated.
“We further noted that Dr. George Ben Crentsil was provided with free accommodation, Day and Night Security. The Authority also paid for electricity and water bills at the residence.
“However, the Executive Director was paid all these benefits through the Controller and Accountant General Department (C&AGD). As a result, Dr. George Ben Crentsil was paid unearned Salary Related Allowances of GH¢342,068.70 by the Authority over the period,” the audit report said.
The auditors explained that the former Executive Director acted in that position for about five years from 2010 to 2015 and at that time, he was being paid by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department.
However, upon his confirmation as substantive Executive Director of the Authority, GSA paid all the arrears and Dr Crentsil pocketed same.
“The anomaly occurred because Dr. George Ben Crentsil was Acting Executive Director from October, 2010 up to 10th August 2015 before he was confirmed. The confirmed appointment however took effect from January 2011 and all the associated arrears paid accordingly. Failure by the Director of Finance and Human Resource to take steps to stop these payments or informed C&AGD early to recover these from his salary also contributed to the anomaly. 2239.
“The anomaly resulted in the wrong payment of GH¢342,068.70 in allowances to the former Executive Director. This denied the Authority GH¢342,068.70 fund which could have been used to finance other operational activities of the Authority”, it noted.
This is not the first time Dr Crentsil’s name is linked to alleged wrongdoing.
In 2018, the GSA former boss was reported to have misappropriated about GH¢1.6 million, and allegedly got kickback payments of about $1.2 million whilst at the Ghana Standards Authority.
According to a forensic audit report, Dr. Crentsil was said to have allegedly collected $1.2 million from Lemet Construction Company; the firm that he awarded a contract to build a new training school and hostel facility for the GSA during the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.
Apart from the alleged $1.2 million kickback, the government’s forensic audit report further indicted the former GSA boss for misappropriating GH¢1,655.019 and $523,697 and has been recommended that he should be made to account for them.
An investigative report authorized by former Minister of Trade and Industry, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah indicated that the former executive director received $1.2 million as kickback from a contractor, Lemet Construction Company who was awarded a GH¢15 million contract to work on a new block of the Standards Authority Training School.
Admission
The contractor, Johnson Teye, did not state why he gave out the money when he appeared before the Spio Committee, but the report indicated Dr. Crentsil admitted receiving the cash when he appeared before the committee.
The money, according to the committee’s report, was paid in two installments by the contractor, the first being $1million and on another occasion, $200,000.
Part of the report read, “The executive director admitted taking money from the contractor but refused to state how much, stating it was a sensitive matter.”
Per the damning forensic audit report, which indicted Dr Ben Crenstil, the case has been submitted to the Office of the Special Prosecutor for the necessary action.
BY Daniel Bampoe