The Ghana Revenue Authority has debunked claims made by the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, that its Commissioner-General absconded over the alleged $100 million corruption in the Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) deal.
The MP on Wednesday, January 10, 2024, alleged on his Facebook page that Dr Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah and his entire nuclear family had absconded Ghana less than twenty-four hours after the president called for investigations to be conducted into the SML deal.
The President appointed the audit, tax, and advisory services firm, KPMG, to conduct an immediate audit of the transaction.
But in a statement issued on January 11, the GRA said that the Commissioner-General is currently on leave which was approved almost a month ago.
It added that he is expected to resume work on January 15.
“Management of the GRA wishes to categorically state that, the Commissioner-General of GRA, Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, has not absconded as stated in the said publication. The Commissioner-General is currently on a scheduled six (6) day leave which had been approved a month ago.
“Rev. Dr. Owusu-Amoah will resume work on Monday, 15th January 2024. While on leave, every engagement that is required of him or GRA in the Audit by KPMG is being diligently attended to either by himself or one of the commissioners,” the statement said.
The statement further described the Member of Parliament’s claims as misrepresentation of facts and malicious and demanded an apology from him.
“Management of the GRA finds the publication to be a total misrepresentation of facts. It is a malicious, sensational, misleading and deliberate attempt to damage the reputation of the Commissioner-General, Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah and the GRA as a whole.
“We hereby demand an immediate retraction of the said publication from all media platforms and an unqualified apology from Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and ghextractives.com for the misrepresentation of facts.”
Meanwhile, Dr Owusu-Amoah, speaking to the media, said he is back in the country going about his duties after a short visit with his family outside the country.
“As you can see I have not abandoned my position because of the SML deal,” he told reporters during an inspection tour of some GRA offices in the Greater Accra region on January 11.