The President, Nana Akufo-Addo, has directed the Auditor-General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, to proceed on his accumulated annual leave of 132 working days.
Mr. Domelevo’s leave takes effect from Wednesday, July 1, 2020.
A statement from the Communications Directorate of the Jubilee House said Mr. Domelevo is to hand over all matters relating to his office to Deputy, Mr. Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu.
The statement signed by the Director Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, indicated that the Auditor General has taken only nine out of his 132 working days of his accumulated annual leave since assuming office in December 2016.
In May 2020, the Auditor-General, Daniel Domelevo, was found guilty of contempt for failing to respond to a suit filed by the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo, which was challenging the $1m surcharge on him.
According to the court, the reason given by Mr. Domelevo for his inability to respond was “untenable and an afterthought.”
Domelevo had said he was busy finishing up an audit report for Parliament hence his failure to respond to the suit.
But the judge, Justice Botwe, in her ruling, said due to the important role the Auditor-General plays, she will opt to caution and discharge him rather than sentence him.
This was after the Senior Minister and four other officials from the Ministry of Finance sued Mr. Domelevo to clear their names in relation to what was said to be breaches of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) that resulted in their payment of US$1 million to a private UK firm, Kroll and Associates.
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.”