Seidu Iddrisu Iddisah has been directed to act as Commissioner of Customs after Colonol Kwadwo Damaoh (Rtd) was relieved of his post.
The President in a statement signed by Nana Asante Bediatuo directed the Commissioner General to hand over his duties to acting Deputy Commissioner at the Authority.
This comes after the Special Prosecutor released a report implicating Col. Damoah in corruption-related act involving La bianca Company limited.
A member of the Board of Directors of the Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority (GPHA) and Council of State Member Eunice Jacqline Buah Asomah-Hinneh, who owns La Bianca Company, was accused in the report as using his position to get favorable deals from the Custom Division of the GRA.
An amount of GHS 1 million has so far been retrieved from the Company as tax liabilities the company was discounted from paying to the state.
Joseph Adu Kyei, a Deputy Commissioner of Customs in charge of Operations, was cited for issuing what unlawful customs advance ruling in the Special Prosecutor’s report.
This led to the reduction of the values of intended imports between a range of 5 percent and 10 percent below the benchmark values.
The report also noted that Col. Damoah “acknowledged the disingenuity of the outcome by admitting that the applicants did not meet the legal requirements for the issuance of customs advance ruling.”
Citing the Col. Damoah (Rtd) for being complicit in the corruption related activity, the special prosecutor in the report said
“Indeed, Mr. Adu Kyei’s decision would not have passed muster but for Colonel (Rtd.) Damoah’s apparent approval. The halfhearted seeming recantation is unhappily belated and does not absolve Colonel (Rtd.) Damoah of ultimate responsibility for the apparently contrived decision,”
Source: theGhanaianvoice.com
