Joseph Adu Kyei, Deputy Commissioner of Customs (Operations) of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has revealed that he was declared innocent in the recent Aflao tax evasion saga by the former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu in 2021.
Interestingly Martin Amidu had left office at that time in question And Kissi Agyebeng had taken over as the Special Prosecutor. Checks from the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) indicates that no such case had ever been reported at their premises since Mr. Agyebeng took over in August of 2021.
Adu Kyei declaration has sent shockwaves within Customs as to who at the OSP declared him innocent when Martin Amidu, the one he has quoted in his response to query by the Commissioner General of GRA over National Security Investigations uncovering tax evasion by some importers through Aflao Border was out of office in 2021.
“I am shocked at the letter my boss wrote because we all know Kissi Agyebeng was the SP in 2021, so how did his letter end up with Martin Amidu. And he states in his response that he appeared before the SP and was even grilled 5 times by Martin. He has to show the office that this interrogation took place and who are the people who interrogated him.
This thing is already looking fishy”, a junior officer at the Customs head office told this paper. The officer who preferred to remain anonymous called for a wider investigation into the matter saying there is some high level of fraud in the matter.
A leaked confidential letter to Commissioner-General of Ghana Revenue Authority by National Security dated 21 October 2021 and signed by the then Deputy National Security Coordinator, Edward Asomani, urged GRA to “take necessary steps to prevent senior officials from undermining the work of customs officers at the various checkpoints across the country”.
This was after the Special Monitoring Team of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) and Customs Intelligence team intercepted and arrested 2 cargo trucks with registration numbers GW 6957-13 and GT 8502-16 at Dzorwulu traffic light near Fiesta Royale in Accra on suspicion of under-declaration and misdescription of goods.
The letter went on to state that during the arrest, the traders were discourteous towards arresting officers while one of them allegedly placed a call to Commissioner of Customs, Col. Damoah and subsequently an order came instructing them to release the trucks unconditionally.
Further, another call came from deputy commissioner Adu Kyei who also gave similar instructions after one of the traders had recorded the encounter and forwarded to him. Commissioner Adu Kyei in his harsh tone response to the CG on 28 October 2021 dismissing the accusation against him stated in in part that; “What an impudence!!! To call a junior ranked Officer John Agbawu to do something I myself will never attempt to do, for it is against my professional ethics and conduct. I have been to Special Prosecutor for five (5) times and I proved to Mr. Amidu of my innocence.
This is my candid opinion. I have been traumatized by this defamation”. But the facts are different as Mr. Amidu resigned and packed out of the OSP in November of 2020, a whole year after the incident. As of October 2021, Mr. Agyebeng was the Special Prosecutor.
Meanwhile, this paper is learning that the Deputy Commissioner of Customs, Adu Kyei has been seconded and transferred to the Ministry of Finance, a day after OSP publication of the Customs-Labianca Report into unlaw discount of values by Mr. Adu Kyei with the tacit endorsement by Col. Damoah, his boss.
