Foreign Affairs Ministry tasked to verify $60,000 recipient company

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has given the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration a week to verify and report to the committee how a firm that was paid $60,000 as consultancy services fee for the construction of a residency at Ghana's Mission in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was incorporated.

The firm, Glinco Construction Engineering Limited, was paid the said amount by then Ghana’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Alhaji Said Sinare, and a former Head of Chancery, Mr Martin Adu Ago, on January 3, 2017.

The committee also gave the ministry one month to get in touch with Ghana's former Ambassador to India, Mr Sam P. Yalley, to find out how an amount of $3,900 given to him as imprest was dispensed in 2018 and report same to the committee.

At the committee's sitting at Parliament House in Accra yesterday, the issue of when Glinco Construction was registered with the Registrar-General’s Department became a bone of contention.

While the Auditor-General’s (A-G’s) report of 2018 said the company was incorporated on January 7, 2017, three days after the said amount had been paid, a memo written by the ministry and shown to the auditors at the sitting indicated that the company was registered in 2013, hence the directive by the Chairman of the committee, Dr James Klutse Avedzi.

He gave the directive when the ministry appeared before the committee to respond to some infractions cited against it in the 2018 A-G’s report.

The acting Chief Director of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Mr Ramses Joseph Cleland, later told the media that once his outfit had been directed to verify the issue, he could not comment on the matter.

A-G’s report

A soft copy of the 2018 A-G's report, titled: "Riyadh mission fictitious payment to Glinco Construction Limited" obtained by the Daily Graphic indicates that Alhaji Sinare and Mr Ago paid $60,000, with payment voucher (PV) number 0591921 in January 3, 2017, into account number 0850415167915 at the Royal Bank Limited in Accra.

The payment, the report said, was in favour of Glinco Construction Engineering Ltd for consultancy services in respect to the construction of the residency.

"Our further checks revealed that although there was no evidence of work done, the mission paid the amount to the company,” it added.

According to the report, a follow-up to the Registrar-General’s Department, Accra, revealed that the construction company was incorporated on January 7, 2017, three days after the payment.

It further said the mission was neither aware of such a project nor any record of the consultant.

The report, therefore, recommended to the ministry to recover the $60,000 from Alhaji Sinare and Mr Ago, failure of which it would be surcharged, describing the payment as fictitious.