Unexplained wealth: Former Auditor-General wants burden of proof to be on accused persons

A former Auditor-General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo is advocating for a shift in Ghana’s legal approach to tackling unexplained wealth.

He proposes that the burden of proof should fall on individuals to justify their assets beyond a reasonable doubt, rather than placing the onus on prosecutors.

Delivering a keynote address at a public forum organized by the Media Foundation for West Africa, Domelevo emphasized that this approach could significantly curb public-sector corruption in the country.

He insisted that “so, we need assets and liability declaration, but we need a law on lifestyle audit because as for lifestyle audit, it would go far. If you cannot explain it, then we need the law to reverse the burden of proof.”

Mr. Domelevo argued that unlike other crimes, where prosecutors can easily gather evidence to prove their case, the reverse is true for unexplained wealth. He cited, for instance, that in the case of murder, people may witness the crime and testify, or sometimes the perpetrator may confess, especially if it happened in public where others can bear witness.

“So, all that we need, I think, is to reverse the order so that once we can prove beyond reasonable doubt that you have these resources in your accounts or you own this, then they onus shifts to you to prove to us how you got it. Like it’s provided under Section 1(3) of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.” He asserted.

The former Auditor-General explained, “that act provides that if you are being investigated for money laundering and you have in your possession properties that are not commensurate or cannot be reasonably attributed to your sources of income, then you are guilty of money laundering.”

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