British Aid Bankrolls Ghana�s Legion Of Ghost Civil Servants

MILLIONS of pounds of European Union aid � much of it from British taxpayers � has been paid to �ghost workers� in Ghana in a huge corruption scandal, The Sunday Times can reveal. Tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of fictitious state employees were kept on Ghana�s public payroll, which is partly financed by the EU and Britain. The European Commission has been accused of covering up the scandal after the Accra government �lost control� of its budget and EU officials learnt of the potential scale of the abuse last year. About �400m of commission funds were allocated to Ghana for 2008-13. More than �135m has been withheld since last year after EU officials learnt of the corruption � but they failed to inform legislators and the public. After being alerted by this newspaper's investigations, the commission informed the European parliament last week of potential irregularities and mismanagement. The EU's anti fraud is looking into this.