It has now been established that the bulk of corrupt practices in the country takes place mainly at the procurement and tendering boards level.

It has further been identified that the lack of anti-corruption strategies within countries and lack of government-driven initiatives to prevent fraud are among the issues that promote fraud.

Mr. Peter Goss, Associate Director of Forensic Services, Price Waterhouse Coopers Incorporated, a multinational auditing firm, said the lack of a sound developed national integrity strategy to address the issues of corruption is the slipway through which corrupt officials cause financial loses to the state.

He also added that the lack of sound legislative framework and mechanisms by governments to promote transparency is the basic for corrupt practices today.

Speaking to the Chronicle in Accra yesterday at the opening of a three-day forensic auditing workshop organized for accountants and other professionals by the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Goss explained that in order to prevent fraud at the governmental level, Government should put in place a sound legislative framework and mechanism to promote transparency, so that people can know when irregularities occurred and how those irregularities can be prevented.

He said the sound mechanism to prevent fraudulent deals should include the creation of awareness among the people with regard to what can be done to address the issue proactively.

“That would go into fraud prevention plans within the organization”, he said. And he added that the awareness should include “a sound research regarding the status of fraud and how fraud and corruption are actually performing within the national structure so that a mechanism again can be developed to address the issue.”

When pushed to say what sort of mechanisms he would expect governments to adopt, Goss suggested that the government should adopt a national integrity leadership founded on promoting ethics.

Asked to tell the various means by which fraud can be identified, Mr. Goss told Chronicle that, “The institutions should encourage whistleblowers in the system.

It was further learnt that the lack of proper legislation to deal with fraud cases, family pressure and the absence of corrective measures are among the reasons why people commit fraud.

The workshop is aimed at, among other things, strengthening the skills of participants in the area of forensic auditing.

The subject seeks to address business evaluation, due-diligence, evidence retrieving and money laundering.

The process is aimed at engendering conducive business environments for investors.

Othello B. Garblah, Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra), August 28, 2002