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IT IS gradually emerging that if former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu had done a diligent job, Ghana would not have paid a colossal amount of �94million to Construction Pioneers (CP), a road construction firm, as judgment debt. Government had, in a negotiated settlement spearheaded by Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu, agreed to pay CP an amount of �94million as settlement claims for the alleged termination of five road contracts. However, ongoing sittings of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament on the Auditor-General�s report for 2009 revealed that at the time of the settlement agreement, CP had evaded taxes amounting to 284 million Deutsche Marks and �52billion, which the then Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was pursuing. Strangely, instead of supporting the IRS to retrieve the money, Mrs. Mould-Iddrisu allegedly waived all the taxes without parliamentary approval and went ahead to okay payment of the �94million to CP. Members of the PAC were livid yesterday over the conduct of the former Attorney-General, saying she palpably flouted provisions of the constitution, as it was only Parliament that could waive taxes. According to the PAC Chairman, Albert Kan-Dapaah, had the former Attorney-General supported the IRS to claim all the taxes plus accruing interests, CP might have even paid some balance to the Government of Ghana (GoG). In his view, it was improper for the former Attorney-General to have reached an agreement with CP at a time there were counter claims from Government of Ghana against the construction firm. In March 2010, CP entered into a settlement agreement with the GoG for an amount of �94,000,000 for wrongful abrogation of contracts in 2003. However, even before an agreement was concluded, Betty Mould-Iddrisu had authorized the payment of �14million in 2009, being part payment of the of settlement claim of the �94,000,000; and other payments were made in 2010. The difference of �80million was to be spread over two-and-half-years, starting March 31, 2010 to June 30, 2012. At yesterday�s sitting, it was revealed that the settlement agreement was reached without a witness; neither did the letter from the former Attorney-General authorizing the payment have any reference number nor warrant supporting CP�s claim. Officials of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) were subjected to questioning for more than two hours, answering queries on why the ministry agreed to pay the monies to CP without evidential documents. They included the Chief Director, Enoch Cobbinah; S.P. Kyei, Director of Budget and Mangowa Ghanney, Deputy Director, Legal Division of the ministry. When quizzed by Mr. Kan-Dapaah if it was proper for the Ministry to pay the settlement claims only on the directive of Betty Mould-Iddrisu, Mr. Cobbinah said they paid the money because they trusted the judgment of the former Attorney-General. �It is difficult for me to understand that such a colossal amount would be paid only on the authorization of the Attorney-General. It might have been approved by a higher authority with all the supporting documents attached,� Mr. Kan-Dapaah remarked. �It is not a good practice for payment to be made without supporting documents. If you had examined the letter authorizing the payment carefully, you would have seen that the agreement was reached without a witness and therefore the payment should not have been made,� the PAC Chairman stressed. Asked by Mr Kan-Dappah if the officials of MOFEP were part of the negotiations before the settlement agreement was reached, Mr. Cobbinah said as far as he was aware, they took part in some meetings. �One or two officials of the ministry were involved at some of the meetings but I cannot confirm whether they were at the final meeting when the final agreement was concluded,� the Chief Director, who was not in charge at the time said. Also answering a question, Mangowa Ghanney said to the best of her knowledge, the legal department of MOFEP was not consulted over the settlement agreement before payments were made. As part of efforts to unravel the mystery surrounding the CP cash payment, Mr. Kan-Dapaah called for a forensic audit report on the issue. He also summoned the forensic auditor, officials of Ghana Revenue Authority and one James Quarshie to appear before the PAC.