A GH¢50 million payroll fraud has been uncovered at the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) after the agency conducted an internal audit.
According to the finding of the audit, the GH¢50 million is an aggregation of unearned allowances paid to beneficiaries who are not posted, funds for official use which were paid into personal accounts, as well as procurements without adherence to due process.
Speaking at a press conference, Mr. Justine Kodua Frimpong, the acting Chief Executive of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) said about 2,716 beneficiaries did not have appointment letters, while 9,442 beneficiaries were above the age required. Another group of 4,681 beneficiaries, also vacated their post, while 14,443 beneficiaries were simply non-existent.
Some 11,512 beneficiaries were also without the assumption of duty letters.
He also revealed that the country has been saved some GH¢20 million after the agency deleted about 16,839 names from the payroll.
He said, “A total of 16,839 beneficiaries have been deleted from the payroll, and this has saved the taxpayer as much as twenty million, two hundred and six thousand, eight hundred cedis. However, in respect of the last two (i.e. Beneficiaries without assumption of duty letters and non-existing beneficiaries,) management has given itself a month, to address issues regarding their status.”
“As part of the physical verification exercise conducted by management, we observed that some district directors connived with some beneficiaries to partake in the verification exercise knowing very well that they have vacated post. I can assure all of you that further investigations will be conducted and those found culpable will be dealt with within the remit of the law.”
Earlier this year, the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) suspended the payment of allowances to over 60,000 beneficiaries on suspicion of discrepancies in the report handed to it by the managers under the previous administration.