A seven-member panel of the Supreme Court, presided over by Justice Jones Dotse, has ruled that the Auditor General cannot surcharge waste management company Zoomlion Ghana Limited.
According to Justice Jones Dotse, the Constitution does not give the Auditor-General the power to disallow expenditure and surcharge people.
The Justice said the Apex Court would make its full reasons for overturning the surcharge, which would be made ready at the Registry of the court for the parties on Friday.
The surcharge, however, was based on an audit conducted on the accounts of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), where it was found that payment of an amount totalling GH¢184,901,650 was allegedly made to Zoomlion Ghana Limited, between the years 2007 and 2018.
Justice Jones Dotse, in determining the constitutionality of the GH¢184 million surcharge slapped on Zoomlion Ghana Limited by the Auditor-General’s Department, said due to the peculiar facts of the case, the respondent was not liable to the powers of the Auditor General.
Hitherto, he, therefore, directed the Court of Appeal to determine the case before basing it on the decision of the Supreme Court.
No evidence of fraud established against Zoomlion
Earlier, a High Court judge, Justice Mensah Datsa, cleared Zoomlion Ghana Limited off the allegations levelled against it by the Auditor-General.
Justice Mensah Datsa said the Auditor-General had not been able to establish any case of fraud against the waste management company.
Part of her reasons in giving the verdict in favour of Zoomlion was because the Auditor-General had not substantiated its claims.
It was the case of Zoomlion that the Auditor General erred on its finding that the company had been paid a total amount of GH¢184,901,650 without due process, adding that such a move was a grave miscarriage of justice.
Zoomlion further also contended that “the Respondent erred in its finding that the Appellant had, between the year 2007-2017, been paid an amount of GH¢184, 901650 devoid of due process, without affording or giving the Appellant the opportunity to respond to the allegation, therefore, it breaches the rule of natural justice, and this has occasioned a brave miscarriage of justice.”
Background
In October 2018, the Auditor-General, Yao Domelevo, issued a surcharge and disallowance against the waste management company for over GH¢184 million for a fumigation exercise carried out for the Ministry of Health (MoH), which was rather paid by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
The surcharge was issued after an audit of the accounts of the NHIA was conducted and it was found that Zoomlion had, between the 2007 and 2018, had been paid a total amount of GH¢184,901,650 without due process being followed.
According to the Auditor-General, Zoomlion continued to receive payment for the fumigation exercise until August 2018, even when the four-year contract that started in 2009 had ended.
“Dissatisfied, on February 6, 2020, Zoomlion appealed the decision of the High Court at the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal realised that there was [a] constitutional interpretation to the case, and subsequently referred it to the Supreme Court,” the report indicates.
The apex court was interpreting Article 187 (7) (b) (i) of the 1992 Constitution, which allows the Auditor-General to “disallow any item of expenditure which is contrary to law, and surcharge the amount of any expenditure disallowed upon the person responsible for incurring or authorising the expenditure.
“Zoomlion appealed the decision of the Auditor-General at the Accra High Court on December 5, 2018, and urged the court to set it aside. On January 31 this year, the High Court, presided over by Justice Georgina Mensah-Datsa, dismissed the appeal.
The post Supreme Court sets Zoomlion free appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS