Daniel Yao Domelevo is a former Auditor-General
A former Auditor-General Daniel Yao Domelevo who is also a member of Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL), has admitted that the team collected large volumes of data without verifying its accuracy, describing some of it as “garbage.”
In an interview on Joy News on October 22, 2025, Domelevo acknowledged that the widely quoted figure of about US$21 billion, which ORAL said it expected to recover, was merely the total sum of all complaints received.
“Those figures are just a summation of the complaints which came. And I even said that after an audit or investigation, those figures may balloon further or may shrink. It is possible.
“The actual game is in the courtroom. When you get to the courtroom, the amount may reduce significantly. And I caution. I remember saying that I know even if we should win the 21 or close to $22 billion, collecting it is another game altogether,” he asserted.
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According to Domelevo, while the ORAL team’s role was limited to gathering information submitted voluntarily by the public, including emails, documents and tips without investigating or substantiating each claim.
He conceded that while some submissions may lead to legitimate cases, others may end up as “noise” or go nowhere.
“As for us, we just collected data and summed it up. We didn’t do any investigation. A preliminary investigation may even show that some of the complaints were just noise. There’s nothing in it. But we collected the data as it did so, including the garbage.”
“Some even came in the form of emails. What about if the person is just making it up?” he said.
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“Being an experienced auditor, I know that you can even submit documents, and later on, when we test the document, the documents may not have any substance, or they may not be authentic. So, there will be a lot of garbage in it. There’s no two ways about that.”
He also pointed to what he described as legal and institutional limitations in the follow-up of ORAL data.
According to him, audits, prosecutions and asset recovery involve other state agencies and the courts, which may delay the recovery process.
“There are two lawyers who will tell you that even the fact that you have won the case in court does not necessarily mean you will collect the money.
“I remember citing the Woyome case. The Supreme Court said pay. But it took some time. I don’t know up to now whether it has been fully paid. So, winning the case is one thing, but recovering it is a different ball game,” he added.
ID/AM
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