Stop investigating my office; you’ve no power – Domelovo tells EOCO

The Auditor-General Daniel Yaw Domelovo is challenging the power of the Economic and Organized Crime Office(EOCO) to investigate his office over procurement breaches.

The EOCO has been probing the Auditor-General on how he procured some vehicles after a private citizen lodged a complaint with the investigative body.

The petition stated that the Audit Service had allegedly breached the Procurement Law, Act 663 in the procurement of vehicles worth almost GH¢6.2 million.

But Mr. Daniel Yao Domelovo in a letter sighted by Kasapafmonline.com told EOCO that the relevant provision in Act 959 which amended Act 804 in section 80 and therein, EOCO’s mandate to investigate corruption and corruption-related offenses which have been defined to include procurement breaches, has been taken away.

Thus, this power EOCO purports to exercise now has been effectively taken away by the amendment contained in section 79 of Act 959.

He has consequently asked the EOCO to stop the investigations immediately.

“Whereas staff of the Ghana Audit Service and I are ready to submit ourselves to an investigation by the appropriate authorities, I am advised that you have no basis investigating or continuing any further investigations into any such alleged procurement breach as same is not part of the legal mandate of your office.

“I am by this letter asking you and your office to immediately stop the legal and unlawful investigation of the alleged procurement breach and render an unqualified apology to me and staff of the Ghana Audit Service within five(5) working days from the date of receiving this letter,” the statement said.

It added:”Unless and until your office is able to show clearly where your mandate and jurisdiction to investigate any procurement breaches is coming from, any continued or further investigation by your office after the receipt of this letter will be fiercely contested, and my lawyers are already in the known and copied in this letter.”

Source: Kasapafmonline.com/102.5FM