Determined to further block areas of revenue leakages, Ghana has sacked some Customs officers for allegedly perpetrating fraud at different locations at the seaports.
The affected officers of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) were allegedly engaging in various acts of misconduct that has caused Ghana to lose huge sums of revenue.
The11 males and four female officers have been banned from henceforth using their office identity cards as Customs personnel having compromised the national economy and security of the West African country.
The four females have been identified as: Christine Bantas, Lydia Attipoe, Rose Obeng Manu and Mary Ann Okunnor.
The sacked male officers are: Eric Kwaku Bonney, Aaron Morgan Ahiadro, Jonathan Gyan Anaman, Jacob Hayford, David Yao Adranu, Emmanuel Ekow Parker, Francis Stephenson,
They were said to have purportedly connived with certain companies to evade duties and taxes, causing a huge financial loss to the state.
Acting Commissioner, Support Services Division, Fred Charles Anson who signed the interdiction letters further asked the affected officers to hand over all properties belonging to the Authority to their various sector commanders before leaving the office.
They were barred also from entering GRA offices until investigations are concluded or otherwise directed.
Some of them will be getting two-thirds of their monthly salaries during the interdiction period while others were stripped of their salaries until the cases are disposed off.
An interdiction letter sent to a female culprit who is stationed at Tema and sighted by DAILY GUIDE indicates that she has caused the GRA to incur a total liability of GH¢17,151,593.72, being revenue loss of GH¢8,575,796.86 and 100 percent penalty thereof.
The letter which was issued on May 18, 2017 reads further that “The Authority has taken a very serious view of your conduct and has decided to interdict you to pave way for a thorough investigation to be carried out into the matter.
“Consequently you have been interdicted with effect from May 18, 2017. You are to hand over your duties and all Authority's property in your custody including your ID to your Sector Commander before leaving the office.”
Linda Ofori Kwarfo, Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has suggested to government to reduce human involvement in the clearing of goods in order to address the corruption menace.
She further called on government to ensure more supervision and control at the ports, lauding government for the steps taken so far to address corruption at the ports.
Meanwhile, the GRA has set up a committee to investigate the matter and bring up findings and recommendations for disciplinary action to be taken.
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