Waste management giants, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, has filed a suit against the Auditor-General, appealing against its Special Audited Report, 2018, that has allegedly indicted the company and some others and surcharged them of an amount totaling GH₵411,433,086.
The current head and three previous Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) and Zoomlion were indicted by the Auditor-General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, over wrongful payments made to the waste management company during their respective tenures.
Among the CEOs of the NHIA who have been indicted by the Auditor-General are Sylvester Mensah, Ras Boateng, Samuel Annor and Nathaniel Otoo.
The current CEO of the NHIA and the previous ones as well as Zoomlion, have since been served with surcharge and disallowance certificates by the Auditor-General, and has a period of fourteen days to make the payment into the Consolidated Fund after receiving the notice from the Auditor-General and to produce proof of payment on a Treasury Counterfoil Receipt (TCR) to the Legal Unit of the Ghana Audit Service.
Failure to comply with the directive will result in civil proceedings being instituted against those surcharged to recover the amount.
However, the waste management company has denied any wrongdoing.
In a statement dated January 7, 2019, the company said “the surcharge and disallowance certificates were served on the company which we disagreed with and have appropriately appealed against it in the High in accordance with law”.
It added “without preempting the ruling of the court in the appeal, the Management of Zoomlion Ghana Limited wishes to assure the public that, the company believes it has done nothing wrong. Zoomlion’s contracts in the areas of disinfestation as a preventive health measure have been with the Ministries of Health. Work have all been duly executed and duly paid for”.
The company has thus, called on the general public and the media to exercise restraint and caution in any discourse on the issue, stressing that “Zoomlion Ghana Limited is a responsible corporate citizen which works ethically with integrity. We believe in the rule of law and the judiciary to bring finality to this matter”.
