Senior Minister cites Domelevo for contempt, proposes prison sentence

Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Marfo has cited the Auditor-General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo for contempt over the $1m Kroll payment surcharge.Osafo-Maafo and four other applicants who are officials of the Ministry of Finance had sued Mr. Domelevo.

The writ sighted is asking the court to among other things commit the Auditor General to prison, or otherwise, punish him for his alleged contemptuous conduct in accordance with the law.

Mr. Osafo-Maafo through his lawyer, Yaw D. Oppong argued that the Auditor General’s refusal to file the required documents at the court and reply to the Notice and grounds of Appeal within the mandatorily stipulated time dictated by Rule 5 (1) and (2) of Order 54 A  of the High Court (Civil Procedure Rules) 2004 CI47 pursuant to amendment by C1102, constitutes a contempt of court.

This the Senior Minister believes exposes Mr. Domelevo’s supposed contrived scheme which according to him is “deliberately fashioned to achieve his [Domelevo’s] own invidious agenda and also with a view to preventing the Court from efficiently ascertaining the full circumstances of the case.”

“That the refusal of the Respondent to file the relevant documents and a reply contrary to the relevant provisions of the law is a confirmation of our conviction that the Respondent in taking the decision against us and the subsequent resort to media propaganda to damnify us, and disparage our hard-earned reputation, he was actuated by malice and lack of good faith and without legal basis whatsoever,” he argued.

Reliefs

The Senior Minister therefore wants:

1.  An order committing the Respondent to prison; or in the alternative for the imposition of any other punishment that this Honourable Court may deem just and proper upon the grounds contained in the accompanying affidavit in support.

2. Consequential orders, including the setting aside of the Respondents’, said impugned decision against the Applicants

3. Any other or further orders that the Honourable Court will deem meet.

Background

The Auditor-General, Daniel Domelevo had indicted the Ministry of Finance and the Senior Minister for paying a UK firm, Kroll and Associates Limited, in 2017 to recover assets from identified wrongdoers, among others, without verifying outcomes.

Mr. Osafo-Maafo had said he was resorting to the courts because “the evidence available shows clearly that the Auditor-General erred in law and professional procedures in the exercise of his powers regarding his audit on payments to Kroll and Associates Limited.”

He also insisted that approval for the request for single-source procurement of professional services was obtained contrary to claims by the Auditor-General that they failed to seek approval from the Public Procurement Authority.

NDC jumps in 

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) demanded the arrest and prosecution of Yaw Osafo Maafo, the Senior Minister, over the development.

The party felt the investigation of the Auditor-General is also “because of his uncompromising stance in the fight against corruption.”

The NDC stressed that “President Akufo-Addo must demonstrate that no one is above the laws of Ghana including Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo.”

“Rather than hounding Mr. Domelevo, we are by this press conference calling on President Akufo Addo to immediately order the arrest and prosecution of Mr. Yaw Osafo Maafo for the breaches of the Public Procurement Act. We demand an immediate cessation of the hostile victimization of Mr. Domelevo by the Akufo-Addo government.”

Pressure group, Economic Fighters League also cautioned persons trying to discredit the work of Mr. Domelevo through attacks to desist from such practices.