ORAL Data Included ‘Garbage’ Entries Collected Without Verification – Domelevo Admits

Former Auditor-General Daniel Domelevo has revealed that the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) initiative collected vast amounts of unverified data — some of which he described as “garbage.”

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Tuesday, October 22, Mr. Domelevo admitted that during his tenure, the ORAL team did not independently verify the claims or documents it received from the public.

“I completely agree,” he said in response to the Deputy Attorney-General’s assertion that the reported $21 billion expected to be recovered under ORAL was exaggerated.
“Those figures were just the summation of complaints that came in. After an audit or investigation, those figures may balloon further or may shrink. It is possible.”

He explained that the ORAL figures merely reflected raw submissions received from citizens, without any form of scrutiny or authentication.

“As for us, we just collected data and summed it up. We didn’t do any investigation. A preliminary investigation even may show that some of the complaints were just noise — there’s nothing in it. But we collected the data as it came, including the garbage,” he stated.

When pressed to clarify his use of the term “garbage,” Mr. Domelevo said his team accepted every submission without filtering.

“Nobody came to us that we turned away. Remember, we were not investigating. Someone could come and say, ‘I know Mr. Amaliba is involved in this or that,’ and we would simply record it. Some even came in the form of emails — what if the person is just making it up?” he explained.

The former Auditor-General, drawing from his auditing experience, said he was aware that some documents might later prove to be inauthentic.

“You can even submit documents, and later when we test them, they may not have any substance or authenticity. So there will be a lot of garbage in it — there’s no two ways about that,” he added.

Mr. Domelevo further acknowledged that even if cases are proven in court, actual recovery of the funds remains a major hurdle.

“Winning the case is one thing; recovering the money is another. The Woyome case is an example — the Supreme Court said pay, but it took some time, and I don’t even know if it’s fully paid,” he said.

He commended the Attorney-General, Dr. Dominic Ayine, for clarifying misconceptions surrounding the ORAL initiative, particularly claims of political interference.

“It’s good that the Attorney-General took time to dispel the view that anyone, including members of a political party, tried to bribe their way through. That clarification was very necessary,” he said.

Mr. Domelevo’s comments have reignited public debate over the reliability of data gathered under the ORAL project and the broader challenges of asset recovery in Ghana’s anti-corruption efforts.