The Tax Justice Coalition is demanding more information from government agencies to ascertain the whereabouts of the GHS 52 billon that is said to have been diverted from the GCB Bank.

According to the Coalition, the alleged diversion of funds from the GCB Bank amounts to a lack of discipline in protecting the public purse and the public deserves more information on the matter.

Their request follows a letter currently circulating on social media with the caption, ‘Audit Service Reports of ¢52.5 billion transferred from GCB Bank to unknown sources.’

The GCB Bank Limited (GCB) responded quickly to the allegation by stating that the content of the publication is false and mischievously designed to discredit the bank.

“We hereby deny the allegations that the GCB has effected unauthorised transfers. We have further assured all our stakeholders that GCB as a bank of international repute, conducts its activities in line with sound banking principles,” the bank said in a press statement.

Meanwhile the Audit Service has clarified that the leaked letter is only a portion of the document in an ongoing audit exercise.

According to the Audit Service, the audit which has been requested by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta is to confirm the transfer of receipts from various transit accounts maintained by commercial banks into the respective Bank of Ghana Hold Accounts from 2015 to date.

According to the Service, during the auditing exercise, it was discovered that some funds were missing.

It, however, noted that with the assistance of the participating commercial banks and central bank, some of the monies have been traced.

However, the Tax Justice Coalition is calling for more clarification on the matter from the Audit Service as it claims the response of the Audit Service is a bit confusing “and for us Ghanaians deserve a lot better.”

Salifu Kanton who spoke on behalf of the Tax Justice Coalition on Joy FMs Midday News, Tuesday said, the situation of clarity becomes even dire due to the lack of a substantive Auditor-General and Special Prosecutor.

He said, “As it is now, we are at a loss as to where even clarity can be brought to bear given the backdrop that our country currently appears to be naked because now we don’t have a substantive Auditor General to respond to these matters and to ensure that more clarity is brought to bear.

“We currently don’t have a Special Prosecutor, we have an acting one. So the anti-corruption agencies that ordinarily would have to look into these matters and bring clarity to bear are a bit dysfunctional and the public trust for these agencies  appear to be waning quite significantly given the development that we have seen.”

He added that the apparent lack of clarity from the Audit Service is very worrying and disheartening and is thus calling on them to give a detailed explanation of the alleged diverted funds.

“But haven said this, it’s quite disheartening looking at the magnitude and the volumes of money that we are talking about. Clearly from the letters that we have seen, the audit service appeared that they haven’t seen completeness in the transaction that they were auditing.

“And if you have been part of an audit process, it’s a very rigorous process where auditees are required to submit documentation, and those documents as and when they need additional information or missing gap, the auditees are required to supply that.

“So for us to be seeing this letter, and looking at the volumes of amount involved that the audit service don’t seem convinced in terms of their completeness, it’s very worrying and disheartening to Ghanaians,” Salifu Kanton said.

He called on the Audit Service to give clear information as to the amount of money which has been allegedly divulged from the GCB Bank.

“Going forward, we need clarity. And clarity particularly from the Audit Service. What is the level of satisfaction as they are saying now relating to this figure? How much of that amount is unaccounted for as we speak? Because these are clear issues that we need to know.”