- 7 CPC Staff Interdicted as Audit Uncovers Unaccounted Millions
Cocoa Processing Company PLC has interdicted seven employees following audit findings that uncovered an outstanding and unaccounted amount of GH₵4.37 million linked to the operations of the company’s Consumer Cooperative Shop.
The audit, conducted by the Ghana Audit Service, reviewed activities covering the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 financial years and was completed in March 2026. It reportedly identified irregularities involving products supplied by CPC to the union-run shop located on the company’s premises in Tema.
According to excerpts of the audit report, the Consumer Cooperative Shop had accumulated debts to the company amounting to GH₵4,373,355.04 as of September 2025 for goods supplied by CPC. The report also noted that the shop operated rent-free on company premises and did not pay for utilities during the period under review.
The auditors warned that failure to recover the outstanding receivables could adversely affect the financial position of the state-linked cocoa processor, which has faced persistent operational and financial pressures in recent years.
The interdicted staff are Theodore Matey Tackey, Chairman of the Senior Staff Union; Abdul-Samed Adams, Chairman of the Junior Staff Union; George Yanney, Principal Accounts Officer; Daniel Mensah, Shop Keeper; Genevieve Pawar, Product Research and Development Manager; James Ababio, Production Manager, Confectionery; and Michael Eshun, Chief Engineer.
Information available indicates that four of the affected officers served on the Consumer Shop Management Committee, two acted as patrons, while one served as the shopkeeper responsible for day-to-day operations.
Sources within the company said management acted after receiving the audit findings and issued queries to the affected staff to explain the discrepancies. The staff were reportedly given the opportunity to respond before the interdictions were imposed, although some are said to have denied wrongdoing and disputed aspects of the audit findings.
A letter of interdiction dated May 11, 2026, and signed by CPC Managing Director Professor William Coffie, stated that management had reviewed the responses but found that there had been “no headway” in resolving the matter. The letter said further investigations were required to reach a conclusive determination, in line with the recommendations from the Ghana Audit Service for recovering the outstanding amount.
As part of the directives, the affected staff have been instructed to cease all withdrawals from the Consumer Shop’s bank accounts. They are also required to make themselves available for a full stock-taking exercise to be jointly conducted by the company’s Audit and Accounts Departments under the supervision of the Security Coordinator.
The interdicted employees have also been directed to submit handing-over notes and will remain on two-thirds salary pending the outcome of investigations, in line with the company’s collective agreement.
The Ghana Audit Service has recommended the immediate recovery of the outstanding receivables and urged CPC to ensure proper accounting for rent, water and electricity going forward.
The development has triggered concern among workers and industry watchers, given the scale of the amount involved and the possible implications for relations between management and the unions associated with the shop.
For CPC, the matter comes at a sensitive time for Ghana’s cocoa value chain, where local processing remains central to the country’s ambition to capture more value from cocoa beyond the export of raw beans.
The company has historically occupied a strategic position in Ghana’s industrial cocoa-processing agenda, producing semi-finished and finished cocoa products for both domestic and export markets. Any governance weakness or receivables leakage within its internal operations could therefore deepen concerns over financial discipline at a time when public institutions and state-linked companies are under pressure to improve accountability.
The interdictions do not amount to a final finding of guilt. However, they signal that management is seeking to protect the integrity of the investigation and prevent further transactions on the Consumer Shop’s accounts while auditors and internal control officers reconcile the outstanding figures.
At the time of filing the original report, CPC management had not issued a public statement beyond the interdiction letters served on the affected employees.
