Delays in judgment debts payments not deliberate – Finance Ministry

cediMr. Kwadwo Awua-Piasah, a Deputy Director at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning on Wednesday explained that delays in the payment of judgment debts are not deliberate but are due to liquidity challenges.

He said the Finance Ministry did not make negotiations on payments of judgment debts or the interests accruing on them, adding that the Ministry could only negotiate to make part payments on judgment debts if funds were not available.

Mr. Awua-Piasah was responding to a question when the Ministry took its turn during the sitting of the Commission of Inquiry into Payments from Public Funds Arising from Judgments Debts and Related Processes in Accra.

The Commission wanted to know whether the Ministry had been negotiating the payment of judgment debts and the interests accruing from them.

Mr. Awua-Piasah presented a list of pay vouchers and summary of pay vouchers issued in 2012 to the Commission.

The Ministry had earlier presented similar documents from 2008 to 2011 to the Commission but was still searching for other documents from 1992 to 2007 from the archives.

Mr. Awua-Piasah said the Ministry of Finance had written to the Controller and Accountant General’s Department for some of the documents and asked for time to enable the Ministry to secure the documents.

He explained that the Controller and Accountant General’s Department dealt directly with the Bank of Ghana.

The Commission therefore urged institutions that had appeared before it to make the necessary documents they had laid hands on available to it as soon as possible, rather than wait until its sitting days before presenting such documents.

In a related development, Mr. James Otim Amponsah, Deputy Controller in-charge of the Treasury said efforts were being made to get documents on judgment debts from 1993 to 1998 for the Commission.

The Treasury was, however, able to make available documents from 1999 to 2007 and a few other documents from 2008 for the Commission.

Source: GNA

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