The Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mr Mahama Ayariga and one other, Kendrick Akwasi Marfo, have been charged with five offences.
The offenses include; fraudulent evasion of customs and duties tax, using public office for private benefit, dealing in foreign exchange without license, and transfer of foreign exchange from Ghana through an unauthorised dealer.
The facts of the case as set out in the Charge Sheet are that, Parliament at its fifth sitting on the 7th day of April, 2017 by a resolution, approved a loan agreement for the purchase of members’ official vehicles between the House and Societe General- Ghana.
Out of this loan, each Member of Parliament was entitled to Eighty Thousand US Dollars ($80,000.00) loan payable within a period of four years for the purchase of their official vehicle.
Members of Parliament however could only access the loan facility through a supplier and no Member of Parliament was entitled to personally collect the loan due them for the stated purpose for which the loan was secured or otherwise.
Mr Ayariga (first Accused), however connived with one Sheriff Ahmed Tijani Abdulai, who had registered a company called ASH Plantpool Limited (ASH Plantpool) with the sole aim of representing the company as the former’s supplier. The first Accused then requested his share of the loan to be released to ASH Plantpool Limited as his supplier and the same was released to the company by Societe General- Ghana based on the approval of the Deputy Clerk of Parliament.
When the money was transferred into the company’s account, Seventy-Eight Thousand US Dollars ($78,000.00) was transferred to Mr Ayariga’s personal account at the Stanadard Chartered Bank- Opeibea House Branch, while Sherrif Ahmed Tijani Abdulai kept the remaining Two Thousand US Dollars ($2,000.00) as his commission contrary to the loan agreement.
Mr Ayariga used the money to import three second hand Toyota V8 Land Cruisers from Dubai. He then applied for tax exemption to clear the three vehicles from the port and he was granted same on condition that he pays duties and taxes of Thirty Six Thousand, Five Hundred and Ninety- One Ghana Cedis, Fifteen Pesewas (GHC36, 591.15) upfront before the vehicles are cleared from the port since the duties and taxes on the vehicles exceeded his allowable tax exemption.
Instead of paying the amount stated as tax however, an amount of Six Thousand, Sixty-Two Ghana Cedis, Eighty- Six Pesewas (GHC6, 062.86) was rather paid by Mr Ayariga to clear the vehicles from the port- Tema.
When the vehicles were cleared from the port, the first Accused, instead of using them for his official duties for which reason tax exemption was granted to him, sold them out to Mr Kendrick Akwasi Marfo, (second Accused), at the cost of Forty Thousand US Dollars ($40,000.00) each, of which Mr Marfo made part payment of Nine Thousand US Dollars ($ 9,000.00) and promised to pay the outstanding balance in August, 2018.
Investigations into the matter revealed that Mr Ayariga transferred Ninety Thousand US Dollars ($ 90,000) to Dubai for the purchase of the vehicles through an agent of his supplier who had no licence to deal in foreign exchange transactions.
The investigations further revealed that the second Accused knew the vehicles were exempted from customs duties and taxes, failed to pay those exemptions before he purchased the Vehicles, and neither did the MP for Bawku Central, pay those tax exemptions before the sale.
Source: GhanaJustice/F.Kyeremateng
