50 CEPS officials under investigation over tax fraud

The Ghana Revenue Authority has interdicted about 50 of its employees for various roles played in helping private companies evade tax and duties.

The Sector Commander of Tema, Felix Mate-Kodjo told JoyNews that the matter is currently under investigation.

The interdicted officers are from the customs division of GRA, in Tema.

On how they were able to find the alleged culprits, he said the port has standard processes every person goes through at the port.

Therefore, it will be easy to identify the culprit if there is a breach by any CEPS official.

“Essentially Custom officers are to do due diligence in the course of our duty. There are standards that have been established to ensure that these checks are done diligently to garner revenue for the state.”

“I think by standards these people have fallen short somehow,” he added.

He explained that the first point of contact at the port is the compliance level. Here the officer must undertake some pivotal checks which include the value of the product imported and ensure that the procedures have been followed.

Asked how they will sanction the culprits, he said when an officer is caught in such a situation, he is queried, interdicted after which a committee of enquiry will be established to investigate the matter.

That is exactly what has been done in respect of the 50 interdicted officers, he stated.

This comes at a time when the Nana Addo-led government is currently battling to raise the enough revenue to execute its many ambitious projects and policies.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Customs Excise Preventive Service, Isaac Crenstil has indicated that they will rebrand and also implement a house cleaning exercise to remove the corrupt ones from the system.