[ 2012-07-13 ]

Amidu Accuses Barton-Odro Of Unlawful Authorisation Of Debt Payment
A former Attorney-General, Mr Martin Amidu, has
accused a Deputy Attorney-General, Mr Ebo
Barton-Odro, of unlawfully authorising the payment
of GH¢4.1 million to African Automobile Limited
(AAL).

In a letter dated July 9, 2012 and addressed to
the Auditor-General, Mr Amidu said he had proof
that on September 22, 2011, Mr Barton-Odro signed
letter No. D45/SF59/08 to the Minister of Finance
and Economic Planning in the matter of the AAL,
purportedly on behalf of the Attorney-General and
Minister of Justice, directing the Minister of
Finance to “authorise the payment of
GH¢4,159,010.38 to the plaintiff”.

According to the former Attorney-General, “I was
the Attornery-General on whose behalf the Deputy
Attorney-General purported to have signed the said
letter. I write to formally inform you that I
never authorised the signature of the letter by
the Deputy Attorney-General as he alleges in the
letter.”

Mr Amidu’s latest epistle was copied to the
Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of
Parliament, the Controller and Accountant-General
and the Minister of Finance and Economic
Planning.

He said in October 2011, he again received
persistent information that the Solicitor-General
facilitated the Deputy Attorney-General to sign
and dispatch letters to the Minister of Finance
and Economic Planning anytime he (Amidu) travelled
on official assignments or out of the office for a
few days, to pay settlement or judgement debts
from government accounts.

He said his informants thought he would not have
approved the letters if they were brought to his
attention, adding that none of the informants
could produce a copy of the alleged letters,
arguing that they were being closely guarded.

“Consequently, I directed the chief director (who
issued out a circular) to bring to me the float
from all the sectors under the Attorney-General’s
Department for the month of September 2011. I read
the float from the Solicitor-General’s office but
there was no letter that had been signed in my
name and on my behalf to the Minister of Finance
and Economic Planning by the Deputy
Attorney-General for the payment of any debts as I
had been informed,” he said.

Mr Amidu said his informants, who were very senior
and responsible attorneys and who understood the
unconstitutionality of such actions, persisted in
their insistence that they were not making mere
allegations.

“All I could do in the circumstances was to remind
the Solicitor-General that nobody had the
constitutional right to authorise payments from
the Consolidated Fund under Article 88 of the
Constitution except me or upon my expressed
delegation of that authority in writing,” the
letter said, adding, “I was never told by the
Solicitor-General that any such unconstitutional
authorisations had ever been made.”

He said it was in vindication of the integrity of
his informants that the letter under reference had
just been delivered to him, long after he had left
office, and that “my informants still insist that
other such unconstitutional authorisations which
were done without my knowledge and authorisation
as Attorney-General exist and may have been acted
upon by the Minister of Finance and Economic
Planning”.

Mr Amidu said he took over as Attorney-General
from January 21, 2011 to the evening of January
19, 2012 and that he never authorised Mr
Barton-Odro to sign the September 22, 2011 letter
on his behalf.

He said Mr Barton-Odro had no constitutional
authority to have signed the letter on his
behalf.

“A photocopy of the said letter also evidencing
the date of its dispatch on September 23, 2011 is
annexed herewith for your ease of reference. You
would notice that for some reason the letter is
not copied to me or brought up to me as the
Attorney-General for final disposal instructions,
as is normal practice in the public service,” the
letter said.

He said the purpose of writing the letter to the
Auditor-General was to alert him, in view of the
proof now proffered by his informants by the
letter under reference, to examine critically and
painstakingly all letters written from the
Attorney-General’s Department between January 21,
2011 and January 19, 2012 for the payment of
settlement or judgement debts from government
accounts to ensure that they were signed by him
(Amidu) personally as the Attorney-General or upon
his expressed written authority to the officer
purportedly signing on his behalf.

Mr Amidu said letters that did not comply with the
above were “prima facie unconstitutional and void
which you are obliged to state in your report for
the year 2011 and name the officer giving the
unconstitutional approval for payment”.

“I am by copies of this letter bringing the
foregoing to the attention of the PAC of
Parliament, the Attorney-General, the Controller
and Accountant-General and the Minister of Finance
and Economic Planning because I cannot take
professional responsibility for acts of
subordinate officers during my tenure who
deliberately and knowingly violated Article 88 of
the Constitution,” it summed up.

When reached for his reaction, Mr Barton-Odro said
he would not respond publicly to the issue but
respond to the statement put out by Mr Amidu at
the appropriate quarters.

Source - Daily Graphic

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