THE ACTING Auditor General, Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, says the Auditor General, Daniel Yao Domelevo, will have to answer hard questions on how he got a key trying to open his office door while on leave.
“There is a general impression in the office that, going on leave, he left his key with his secretary. So an interesting question is: which key was he trying to open his office door with? Could it be that he is also keeping a silent copy of the key?” he asked in a statement to the media.
Mr. Asiedu said there was the need for the country to take a very deep dive into the key Mr. Domelevo was using to open his office door.
“It may be interesting to note that a video recording is circulating showing Mr. Domelevo unsuccessfully trying to place a key in the key hole. He indicated that he could not have access to his key,” he pointed out.
According to him, on July 2, 2020, the Office of the Auditor General, in a letter headlined ‘Inspection of Documents’ reported to the Office of the Senior Minister the outcome of inspection of documents in the Senior Minister’s office.
He said the inspection was done by the same audit team that carried out the initial audit that disclosed the payment of US$1 million to Kroll & Associates.
Mr. Asiedu explained that “this time round, the Deputy Auditor General in charge of the department responsible for the audit decided to join his team in the inspection.”
“The inspection report formed the basis for the letter sent to the Office of the Senior Minister, advising the lawyers handling the case to go back to court for the continuation of the case,” he added.
According to him, surprisingly, a copy of this letter which was in the Auditor General’s office leaked out to the public which generated a lot of misinterpretations, negative comments, and even threats, particularly directed at the acting Auditor General.
In view of the development, he indicated that he informed the Audit Service Board which quickly directed that to ensure the security of sensitive information in the Auditor General’s office, keys to the door adjoining the Auditor General’s secretariat is changed to protect the place.
The statement said the Estate Unit changed the lock in the presence of the Auditor General’s secretariat staff, and inspected by the director in charge of administration, after which the key was handed over to the Auditor General’s secretary.
“The Auditor General’s secretary later brought the keys to the acting Auditor General, indicating that due to the leakage of the said letter, she was now afraid to handle the Auditor General’s keys.
“The acting Auditor General then directed the secretary to give the keys to the Deputy Auditor-General for Finance & Administration since that department is also responsible for the Estates Unit. Unfortunately, the Deputy Auditor-General for Finance & Administration said she did not have a safe in her office,” the statement said.
It added that the only place they have a safe is the chief cashier’s office, hence, the acting Auditor General directed the Auditor General’s secretary to send the keys for safe-keeping there.
“Since then the Auditor General’s secretary has, on a number of occasions, gone for the Auditor General’s office key, indicating she wanted to file a document or perform other duties at the Auditor General’s office, after which she always returned the key for safe-keeping at the cashier’s office. The key has always remained available to the Auditor General,” the statement indicated.
The statement said on July 29, 2020, Mr. Domelevo called him on the phone and said he was coming to his office to pick certain documents.
“The Auditor General needed just to ask her secretary, who has always been the custodian of his key. She would quickly produce it for him,” it said.
Mr. Domelevo, according to the statement, then proceeded to the office after the phone call and was told by his deputy that the key was changed for security reasons on the instructions of the board.
“The acting Auditor General told Mr. Domelevo that the key was changed for security reasons on the directive of the board, but that the new key was handed over to his secretary, who for the same security reasons sent the key to the cashier’s office for safe-keeping,” the statement pointed out.
The statement said further that Mr. Domelevo retorted that if the action was on the board’s instruction he had no problem, but that he (Domelevo) was no more interested in getting the key and was also no more interested in picking any document from his office.
“The next thing anyone knew was that the issue was in the domain of the media. It may be interesting to note that a video recording is circulating showing Mr. Domelevo unsuccessfully trying to place a key in the key hole,” it added.
By Ernest Kofi Adu (DGN)
