The Lands Commission has interdicted 10 of its staff for their alleged involvement in siphoning funds of the institution.
The 10 were part of a syndicate that reportedly masterminded the stealing of draft cheques worth GH¢100 million expected to be delivered to the Ghana Revenue Authority(GRA).
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, March 1, Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission, James Ebenezer Kobina Dadson, said his outfit was in no way conferring conviction on the suspects, but they were required to step aside for investigations to continue.
He disclosed that the audit unit of the commission detected the fraud in May 2022 after tax figures paid by some property owners for registering their properties failed to reflect the expected tax amount.
“It was realised by the audit unit that the assessed figures didn’t necessarily reflect the payment effected by property owners or those processing the document for registration, and so the commission itself commenced investigations into the matter by reporting to the CID of the Ghana Police Service.
“21 persons, including 16 staff, were interrogated by the NIB. They were picked up from the office; 16 of them were picked, while 5 are still at large,” he elaborated.
Mr Dadson said that while an internal probe continues, the case has been handed over to the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) for a full investigation.
He added that the Lands Commission has put in place measures to “forestall the unfortunate incident” from happening in the future as they initiate steps to move to an information platform that will be managed by an external firm.
However, the Executive Secretary urged the public to be circumspect in their utterances on the matter since the case had been sent to court.