Auditor General Daniel Yao Domelevo yesterday escaped prison sentence by a whisker due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
He was found guilty of contempt of court after he had refused to file his response to an appeal challenging his decision to surcharge Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo and four officials of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
In its judgement, the court held that the Auditor General’s failure to respond to an appeal against his decision to disallow and surcharge the Senior Minister and others within 14 days as stipulated by law constituted a contempt of court.
The court, presided over by Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe, held that she was leaving Mr. Domelevo off the hook because of the deep apology he offered in court, the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the importance of the work he does for the country as Auditor General.
The presiding judge stated that the reason given by Mr. Domelevo that he was busy finishing up an audit report for Parliament hence his failure to respond to the appeal was untenable and an afterthought.
“This court cannot be oblivious to the social problems confronting this country now. It is in one word, indiscipline, and in a few words disrespect for the law from the top of the pyramid to its base. I think the courts must step in now to save this country from the fate of the biblical Sodom and Gomorra and send a clear message to the citizenry that the law may be an ass but certainly is a respecter of none…” the judge said.
“In sentencing the respondent, this court has in mind the very crucial role of the respondent in our country and would not wish to dog him and discourage him or his office in the performance of his duties with a harsh custodial sentence, especially in the midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic. The court also notes that the documents in contention were eventually filed on the 31st of January, 2020,” the judge pointed out.
“The court would, in the circumstances rather caution and discharge the respondent, and warn him to have as businesslike, serious and timeous an attitude to appeals and challenges to the decisions he makes as he would the surcharges and disallowances, as he cannot choose which part of the rules he uses in carrying out his statutory duties to obey and which ones he would like to ignore, disregard and disrespect,” she added.
Contempt Case
The Auditor General had failed to file a response within 14 days to an appeal against his decision to disallow and surcharge the applicants in the Kroll & Associates audit case.
Mr. Domelevo had claimed in his audit report that Mr. Osafo-Maafo and the Finance Ministry officials paid UK firm Kroll and Associates Limited $1 million for no evidence of work done, and as a result surcharged the individuals involved in authorizing the payment.
The Senior Minister and the others then appealed the decision in court, but Mr. Domelevo failed to respond to the appeal within the time stipulated by the rules of court.
The appellants, therefore, initiated a contempt action against Mr. Domelevo for his alleged refusal to file a response to their appeal against his decision to surcharge them.
Addresses
In his written submission, Mr. Domelevo claimed that he had not been personally served with the notice of appeal and the attached documents, but rather it was served on one Richmond Aryee whom he admits is his secretary.
He submitted that the notice of appeal and the attachments which were served on his secretary were dropped on his desk which got mixed up with other documents which had piled up there.
He further insisted that the notice of appeal and other documents only came to his attention on or about January 13, 2020 exactly a month after the notice of appeal had been served on his secretary.
Applicants’ Argument
However, the applicants, in their written submission, insisted that the Auditor General’s written submissions were laden with ‘untruths’ and ‘inconsistencies’.
The applicants refuted Mr. Domelevo’s claim of the processes not being served on him personally, saying it is not the practice when it comes to service of court processes on a public officer or government department like the Office of the Auditor General.
They also challenged Mr. Domelevo’s claim that his attention was only drawn to the appeal processes on January 13, 2020 when he wrote a letter to the applicant’s lawyer on January 21, seeking an extension of time to comply with the rules of court to file his response.
They said at the time Mr. Domelevo’s lawyer wrote to the applicant’s lawyer that he had six (6) clear days within which to file the response if indeed his attention was only drawn to the processes on January 13.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak