The Ministry of Finance has disclosed that GH¢45.4 billion out of GH¢68.7 billion in claims submitted by contractors and suppliers has been validated for payment following a comprehensive audit and verification exercise.
The review assessed outstanding payment requests presented to government to determine the legitimacy of claims before any settlement is made.
Deputy Finance Minister Thomas Nyarko Ampem made the disclosure on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday, March 10, delivering a statement on behalf of Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson.
He explained that the verification exercise was conducted by the Ghana Audit Service in collaboration with external audit firms to confirm the validity of unpaid claims submitted to the Ministry of Finance.
According to Mr. Nyarko Ampem, the claims comprised Interim Payment Certificates (IPCs), invoices, and bank transfer advices relating to advances owed to contractors and suppliers.
Outstanding IPCs and invoices amounted to GH¢5.5 billion, while bank transfer advices accounted for GH¢18.3 billion of the total claims reviewed. Following the verification process, GH¢45.4 billion of the claims was approved as valid and eligible for payment.
However, GH¢8.1 billion was rejected outright after auditors identified several irregularities in the submissions. The rejected claims were disqualified for reasons including unsupported documentation, duplication of claims, overstated amounts, payments already made, falsified receipt advices, and cases where payment requests were submitted for work that had not been carried out.
“The Ghana Audit Service, working in partnership with EY and PwC, undertook an exercise to verify and validate a total of GH¢68.7 billion submitted to the Ministry of Finance in unpaid IPCs, invoices, and bank transfer advances owed to contractors and suppliers. Out of this, outstanding IPCs and invoices amounted to GH¢5.5 billion, while outstanding bank transfer advices amounted to GH¢18.3 billion,” he said.
