The Auditor-General has described Zoomlion Ghana Limited as a fraudulent company that has caused a drain on the scarce resources of Ghana.
The Auditor General said this in response to an appeal Zoomlion filed at the high court challenging the surcharge and disallowance of over ¢180 million paid to the waste management company.
The amount was paid to Zoomlion by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) for fumigation services in the districts, municipal and metropolitan assemblies in the country. The contract was signed by the Ministry of Health but payment is made by the NHIA.
Zoomlion and its sister companies, however, have two other separate nationwide fumigation contracts with the government. The assemblies told JoyNews in a nationwide investigation that they did not know about the Ministry of Health fumigation contract, which Zoomlion was supposed to execute at the assembly level.
The Auditor General said Zoomlion used the one done in one fumigation contract to claim payment for from the NHIA.
According to the Auditor-General, “as a result of this fraud committed on the people of Ghana, poor taxpayers money was used to pay the whopping amount of ¢184,901,650.00 to the Appellant [Zoomlion].”
“The Respondent upon a careful review of the documents tendered in support of the payments to the Appellant is of the candid opinion that the Appellant has at all material times, been fraudulent and has caused a drain on the scarce state resources,” the Auditor General argued.
Zoomlion Ghana Limited has been involved in a number of scandals in Ghana, notably the GYEEDA Scandal. In 2013, the World Bank banned Zoomlion and its affiliate companies from bidding for the Bank’s contracts because Zoomlion “paid bribes to facilitate contract execution and processing of invoices” in Liberia.
The Financial Forensic Unit of the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) is also investigating Zoomlion and 10 of its sister companies, for another set of shady fumigation contracts awarded to Zoomlion and the Jospong Group by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. More than GHc200 million has been paid to the Jospong companies for these deals with the Local Government Ministry.
Part of the evidence the Auditor General submitted to the court to support the argument of fraud against Zoomlion is Part Two of JoyNews’ Robbing the Assemblies investigations carried out by Manasseh Azure Awuni.
