{"id":103237,"date":"2025-11-14T03:36:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T03:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=103237"},"modified":"2025-11-14T03:36:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T03:36:00","slug":"gh%c2%a213bn-ghost-payments-stopped-ato-forson-reveals-fictitious-heist-caught-before-approval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=103237","title":{"rendered":"GH\u00a213bn ghost payments stopped \u2013 Ato Forson reveals fictitious heist caught before approval"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 16 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has disclosed a shocking attempt to push through GH\u00a213 billion in questionable payments that were intercepted only after he ordered a full audit of all outstanding claims.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Joy News\u2019 PM Express hours after presenting the 2026 Budget, he said auditors uncovered layers of recycled claims, falsified documents and outright fake invoices that had already passed multiple approval points.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing that the auditors are certain about is that they have rejected \u00a210 billion and said that they don\u2019t pay because the liabilities, some are recycled,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He added that \u201csome are Interim Payment Certificate (IPCs) for work done already, and they are recycling it for the state to pay. Some have been falsified store receipts advice and they are asking the state to pay, and some are fictitious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Forson said the audit report, which will be released next week, is \u201cdamning\u201d and \u201ctroubling.\u201d He recalled the moment he halted all payments when he assumed office. <\/p>\n

\u201cI said to my staff at the ministry that, look, when I got in, I said stop all the payments. Let\u2019s do the audit before anything goes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His team questioned the decision, insisting some payments were already far advanced. But Dr Forson stood firm. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them felt that as for that one, it\u2019s been processed and it\u2019s legitimate. I said \u2018Stop it\u2019. My instinct told me to stop it. Let\u2019s subject it to an audit.\u201d<\/p>\n

That decision, he revealed, exposed a massive problem. \u201cYou know how much was there? 13 billion,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat GH\u00a213 billion, the Auditor General has validated. GH\u00a212 billion. The GH\u00a21 billion left, the Auditor General said, don\u2019t pay. They are fictitious, so somebody just concocted them.\u201d<\/p>\n

He stressed how close Ghana came to losing the money. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese are invoices, interim payment certificates, that have gone through all the process and are only waiting at the Auditor General\u2019s office, at the Controller and Accountant-General\u2019s office, and Bank of Ghana, just waiting for cash for payment. If not for that audit, Ghana would have lost that one,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dr Forson said those responsible will be exposed. \u201cWho are those responsible for this? Yes, the names are there. The audit will be out, and so they will publish not only their names, but the companies and all those behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that he chose not to announce the findings during the budget presentation because \u201cI don\u2019t want it to overshadow the excellent policies in the budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

He confirmed that \u201cthe Auditor General will present the document and then the Attorney General will have to take over.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GH\u00a213bnFinance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has disclosed a shocking attempt to push through GH\u00a213 billion in questionable payments that were intercepted only after he ordered a full audit of all outstanding claims.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[372,1969,1883,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-cassiel-ato-forson","category-hp-news-3","category-national","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103237\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}