ORAL: Looted Monies Might Not Be Retrieved If An Urgent Action Is Not Taken- Bright Simons

Bright Simons, the vice president of IMANI Africa, has proposed that Attorney-General (A-G) Dr. Dominic Ayine be subjected to the most stringent scrutiny in order to implement the conclusions of the Operation Recover All Loots (ORAL) report.

He claims that even a million dollars of the more than 21 billion dollars that ORAL claims have been looted might not be retrieved by the end of the president’s term if this action is not taken.

Bright Simons went on to say that recovering 12.5% of the more than $21 billion that Operation Recover All Loots has recovered will be a challenging task for Attorney General Dr. Dominic Ayine.

Simons explained that a significant portion of the ORAL-estimated “loot” has to do with fiscally flawed policies rather than money that is stashed away and can be “recovered” through plea bargains and prosecutions.

But Bright Simons in his analysis said “Think about the $4.5bn said to have been ‘illegally printed’ by the Governor of the central bank, for instance. That money has been spent.

“The citizens have suffered the inflation.  Other categories involve hyper-projections across multiple time ranges. Think of the $4.5 billion National Service Scheme ‘fraud’. Note that $4.5bn is about 50% of the entire national budget. That money could not have been spent within the time period in question.

“Think of the presidential jet hires, for instance. The funds were paid through classified channels to overseas jet rental companies. In Ghana, the president’s unaccountable imprest is not penetrable to punitive audits.” he said in a statement on his X page.

“Is the A-G truly committed to ORAL? Second, the ORAL policy itself has to be costed. How much is needed to create the right infrastructure for investigations, prosecutions, and recovery? It this ends up being $26 million. Then, of course, the Attorney General better not recover $2.6 million, else that would mean the country lost more money chasing after phantom loot,” he ended.

According to the ORAL Committee, it has found potential recoveries from undervalued land sales and looted state assets totaling $21.19 billion.

If You Have A Problem With ORAL, Going To Court Is The Best Action— Domelevo

ORAL Chairman Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa stated that if the nation can recover this sum, the International Moneyray Fund won’t need to be used for assistance when the committee’s report was presented to the president on Monday, February 10 at the seat of government in Accra.

The Foreign Affairs Minister, Ablakwa, claims that Ghana could recover up to $20.49 billion in US dollars if they are successful in their efforts.

Among these cases are significant corruption scandals involving the Saltpond decommissioning project, Power Distribution Services (PDS), and the National Cathedral project.

Meanwhile, the ORAL Committee’s report was received by President John Mahama, who also sent it to the Attorney General for further action.