UG College of Health Sciences invested over GHC456k in a collapsed firm – Audit report

The 2020 Auditor General’s report has indicted the management of the College of Health Sciences of the University of Ghana for investing GH¢456,199.08 in a financial institution which did not meet any minimum capital requirements of the Bank of Ghana.

According to the report, Liberty Asset, which was not a commercial bank is now in receivership.

“Policy 1301 of the University Ghana Financial Regulations Governance provides that the Finance and General Purposes Committee is responsible for approving a Treasury Policy Statement setting out a strategy and policies for cash management, investments and borrowings. In this regard, the Vice-Chancellor issued a policy instruction referenced UG/VC/01/01 and dated 4 October, 2018 which states, “all Units in the University will now be required to invest with only commercial banks that have met the minimum capital requirements of the Bank of Ghana.

“Contrary to the above, we noted that the College Administration and School of Medicine and Dentistry (SMD) invested a total amount of GH¢456,199.08 in Liberty Asset which, is not a commercial bank and does not meet any minimum capital requirements of Bank of Ghana,” the report said.

The report further noted: “We further noted that there was no evidence of due diligence report available to continue investment with Liberty Asset in terms of its risk profile. 1011. This anomaly was as a result of the failure of the College to develop monitoring mechanism to ensure that all units adhere to the University’s directives. The situation has the tendency to increase the financial risk exposure of the University”.

The report also noted any financial loss to the college through the investment will be surcharged on the decision-makers.

“Furthermore, any investment amount lost by the University may be disallowed and surcharged against the affected officers in accordance with Article 187 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana and Section 18 of the Audit Service Act 2000, Act 584”.

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