The Disciplinary Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG) has suspended Abdulai Suglo, a chartered accountant of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), for one year for professional misconduct.
The sanction follows complaints that he received double salary from two public universities at the same time for nineteen months, amounting to Gh¢115,516.62 (USD 10,318.59; 8857.28 euros).
According to the committee’s decision, Suglo was on sabbatical leave from KNUST when he was appointed an interim Director of Finance at the Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS), now known as University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (UBIDS).
The committee said under sabbatical rules, he was entitled to his basic salary from KNUST and only negotiated allowances from SDD-UBIDS.
However, documentary evidence including the Auditor-General’s Report, a letter written by the university’s management on an audit report, his appointment letter, and a video of his appearance before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament showed the payments he received from SDD-UBIDS were characterised as salary.
It found that the appointment letter placed him on a salary grade under the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) and provided for pension contributions under the Ghana University Staff Superannuation Scheme, features ordinarily associated with salaried employment.
Committee rejects defence, finds breach of ethics
The committee rejected his claim that pension deductions were administrative errors, noting that such deductions were made consistently and that as Interim Director of Finance charged with oversight of the university’s finances, he bore responsibility for correcting any error.
Suglo pleaded not liable to two counts of professional misconduct bordering on breaches of Sections R111.1, R115.1 and R111.2 of the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants and Regulation 87 of the ICAG Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2476).
The committee found that he failed to disclose to SDD-UBIDS that he could not receive salary from the university, failed to advise the university against the impropriety and allowed the arrangement to continue. It further noted that although the monies were paid through the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), they ultimately originated from public funds, rendering any improper payment a loss to the state.
The committee considered as a mitigating factor that he refunded the amount before the determination of the proceedings.
It stressed that professional accountants occupied positions of trust and were expected to exhibit unimpeachable integrity in the management of public resources, adding that his conduct fell short of those standards and constituted professional misconduct.
In its sanction, the committee ruled that his membership of the institute was suspended for one year, during which he was not to practise, be employed as, offer services as, or hold himself out as a chartered accountant or enjoy any privileges attached to membership, and that the suspension was to be published accordingly.
The committee said the sanction was necessary to uphold the integrity of the profession, deter similar conduct by members and maintain public confidence in the regulatory framework governing chartered accountants in Ghana.
Background and how scandal was exposed
Suglo works as a senior accountant at KNUST in Kumasi.
In 2020, he was employed as an acting Director of Finance for SDD-UBIDS in Wa, the capital of the Upper West Region, while on sabbatical leave from KNUST.
As he prepared to report at SDD-UBIDS, a letter signed by a KNUST assistant registrar, Yvonne Baiden, forewarned him against drawing double salary. Despite the written warning, he received Gh¢ 115,516.62 in salaries and allowances from both SDD-UBIDS and KNUST between June 2020 and December 2021.
The scandal was not exposed until external auditors from the Ghana Audit Service descended on the university without notice in 2023 and uncovered it while auditing the financial records of the institution.
The double-salary scandal was highlighted by Media Without Borders in a series of reports, triggering public interest.
Appearance before Public Accounts Committee
On Friday, 16 August 2024, Suglo appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Parliament.
He admitted on live cameras that he received double salary from the two universities but claimed he did so because the university failed to satisfy some specific terms and conditions of employment.
PAC maintained that his action was unacceptable and unlawful and directed him to refund the money. He subsequently resigned from SDD-UBIDS and returned to KNUST.
Before the Disciplinary Committee, Suglo pleaded not liable to both counts. However, the committee said evidence established that under sabbatical rules he was entitled to only his basic salary from KNUST and only negotiated allowances from SDD-UBIDS.
It held that documentary evidence including the Auditor-General’s Report, a letter from the university’s management relating to the audit, his appointment letter placing him on the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) with pension contributions, and a video of his appearance before PAC, all characterised the payments as salary.
The committee rejected his explanation that pension deductions were administrative errors, noting that as Interim Director of Finance he bore responsibility for correcting such errors.
Petitions and committee findings
In 2023, an ICAG member and ex-student of SDD-UBIDS, Zakaria Aliu Domanangmine, filed a petition with ICAG against the accountant.
In 2024, ICAG received another petition from Prof. Yakubu Awudu Sare, a professor of finance and Dean of the School of Business at SDD-UBIDS.
ICAG referred the petitions to its Public Accountancy Supervisory Committee (PASC).
The PASC, after meeting the parties on three occasions and obtaining information from KNUST, SDD-UBIDS and the Ghana Audit Service, found him guilty of breaching three sections of the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants.
The statement of charges stated:
You, by receiving double salary from two public tertiary institutions, have conducted yourself in a manner that is unethical and in breach of section R111.1 and section R115.1 of the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants and regulation 87 (0) of Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2476).
You, by failing to disclose to SDD-UBIDS that you cannot receive a salary from the university, have conducted yourself in a manner that is unethical and in breach of section R111.2 of the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants and regulation 87 (0) of Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2476).
PASC subsequently recommended that he appear before the Disciplinary Committee (DC) for further action.
The decision of the Disciplinary Committee was communicated to Suglo through a letter by the Chief Executive Officer of the ICAG, Dr Eric Oduro Osae, in August, 2026.
See the full letter below:
Source: Edward Adeti/Media Without Borders/mwbonline.org/Ghana/West Africa
