CID to prosecute validation officers over unearned salaries

The CID will prosecute validation officers implicated in the payment of unearned salaries.

The Auditor-General, Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, disclosed that his office is working with the Criminal Investigations Department to investigate payroll officers, Human Resource Managers, controllers, and institutional heads whose negligence or complicity led to wrongful salary payments.

He said the decision to prosecute validation officers is part of efforts to ensure accountability in the public service.

According to Mr. Asiedu, the CID has been briefed on findings from a special audit into unearned salaries, which uncovered 53,311 separated staff who remained on the government payroll. This led to wrongful payments totaling more than GH¢150 million. He stressed that recovering the funds is not enough and that those responsible for authorizing such payments must face justice.

“Recovering the money is one thing, but ensuring accountability and preventing a recurrence is another. We are not stopping at the recovery. My office is collaborating with the CID to identify and go after the persons who validated these unearned salaries. Their actions constitute a serious crime against the state,” he said.

The Auditor-General revealed that GH¢10 million has so far been recovered voluntarily within the last two months and deposited into the Consolidated Fund at the Bank of Ghana. He described this as a positive outcome of the audit but emphasized that prosecution of validation officers is critical to deterring future abuse of the payroll system.

The audit report, which covered 2023 to April 2025, found that while government records showed separations due to retirement, resignation, termination, or death, this information was not relayed to the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD). As a result, 2,446 individuals were wrongly paid beyond their exit dates.

Mr. Asiedu said dossiers are being compiled for implicated officers and will soon be handed over to the CID for further investigation and prosecution. He warned that payroll officers and institutional heads who either looked away or actively validated fraudulent payments would be held accountable.

Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson earlier told Parliament during the 2025 Mid-Year Budget Review that more than 53,000 ghost names had been detected, with unearned salaries estimated at GH¢150.4 million.

President John Dramani Mahama has also confirmed that his administration is working with the Judicial Service to establish special courts to handle Auditor-General’s reports swiftly. The courts, he said, will ensure quick prosecution of financial crimes, including the unearned salaries scandal.

The Auditor-General has urged anyone who benefited from unearned salaries to come forward voluntarily and refund the money, warning that once investigations are completed, they will face the full rigours of the law.