Speaking in an interview on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, January 10, Dr. Ayine said the amount was established through collaboration with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

“In respect of DRIP, I can say with certainty that, working with the GRA, we have been able to establish that GH¢22 million in taxes was evaded,” he stated.https://www.youtube.com/embed/h6ZWqAkGcKU?si=Wqd4_VJSg3n4zENG

The Attorney-General explained that his office had initially estimated that GH¢38.7 million in taxes may have been evaded, but lacked the legal authority to make a final determination without confirmation from the GRA.

“As of July last year, I wrote to the GRA for confirmation. I am speaking with certainty now because just last week, the GRA confirmed the GH¢22 million figure,” he said.

Dr. Ayine disclosed that the company involved had written to authorities, admitting that some items were cleared under tax exemptions when they should not have qualified for such exemptions. However, he dismissed the explanation as irrelevant.

“Once you import goods and clear them into the national customs territory without paying duty when you ought to have paid, it means you have evaded taxes,” he stressed.

Beyond the confirmed tax evasion, the Attorney-General also revealed that an additional overpayment of US$2 million has been identified in the DRIP transactions.

“US$2 million has also been flagged, and I am going to pursue them for that amount because it is very clear from our evidence that they were overpaid,” he said.

Dr. Ayine rejected claims that the overpayment may have resulted from a clerical error, insisting that documentary evidence proves otherwise.

“We obtained invoices from the Ministry of Finance, the District Assemblies Common Fund, and the Public Procurement Authority, and compared them. That figure is confirmed by all the invoices — they were overpaid by US$2 million,” he noted.

The Attorney-General said his office is considering both civil action and possible criminal prosecution to recover the funds.

“I will insist on recovering the money. I am considering either taking a civil action to recover it or possibly bringing criminal prosecution,” he added.

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A Barcelona court has ordered the singer to stand trial for six alleged tax crimes, although a date has not yet been set.

Spanish prosecutors want to jail the superstar for eight years and fine her €23.8m if she is found guilty.

The 45-year-old has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

“I am confident that I have enough proof to support my case and that justice will prevail in my favour”, she said recently in an interview with the Spanish edition of Elle magazine.

Shakira’s legal team said in a statement that they would do their job “by presenting [the] arguments at the appropriate time”.

She had previously rejected a deal offered by prosecutors, instead opting to go to trial.

At the centre of this row is Shakira’s residency status between 2012 and 2014, when prosecutors alleged that she was living in Spain but listing her official residence elsewhere.

Under Spanish law, people who spend more than six months in the country are considered residents for tax purposes. But Shakira says Spain was not where she was mainly living at the time.

In July, prosecutors issued a document which claimed that she bought a house in Barcelona in 2012, which became a family home for her and her then-partner, Barcelona footballer Gerard Piqué.

Her lawyers have said that up until 2014 most of her income came from international tours and she spent long chunks of time outside of Spain.

“The Spanish tax authorities saw that I was dating a Spanish citizen and started to salivate. It’s clear they wanted to go after that money no matter what”, she told Elle magazine.

Shakira declared Spain to be her place of residence for tax purposes in 2015. She said she has paid €17.2m in tax and has no outstanding debts.

In a separate case in 2019, Mr Piqué was fined €2.1m by the Spanish national court for evading tax between 2008 and 2010.

The couple announced in early June that they had split up after 11 years. They have two sons together, aged seven and nine.

Her interview with Elle was the first time she spoke publicly about their separation, telling the magazine that she is going through “probably one of the most difficult, darkest hours of my life”.

It was to report a disturbing development as he wanted an allegation of Tax evasion investigated.

A Customs Intelligence team is said to have intercepted and arrested two cargo trucks at the Dzorwulu Traffic Light on suspicion of under declaration and misdescription of goods.

The Trucks were escorted to the Customs Laboratory Division at Airport Roundabout for re-examination.

This exercise, according to Mr Asomani, revealed that a substantial number of goods in the truck were undeclared and thus, no duties were paid on them.

A list of the declared and undeclared goods was attached to this letter.

Mr Asomani also pointed out that one of the arrested traders alleged he had placed a call to Col. Kwadwo Damoah (Rtd) Commissioner of CD-GRA. One Johnny Agbawu who led the arrest operation is said to have received a call from one Kojo Bonsu, Staff Officer to Col Damoah asking him to unconditionally release the trucks.

“Given the implications of this development, particularly those related to tax evasion, on the domestic revenue mobilization efforts of GRA, your outfit is urged to investigate the matter and update this Ministry accordingly,” Mr Asomani wrote.

The GRA commenced investigations into the matter and took responses from its officials including Col. Damoah.

Col Damoah

The Customs boss dismissed the allegations. He insisted he never received any call from any individual on the said day. He further pointed out that he did not ask anyone to make any call.

“I had no information about the arrest for which I am wrongly accused of wrongdoing. It is quite unfortunate that such serious unfounded, unsubstantiated, frivolous and vexatious allegations could be made against me by a person bent on destroying my hard-won reputation of over thirty years of public service,” he wrote.

Col Damoah continued that on the said day, he travelled to Akanu-Noepe with the Honourable Minister for Foreign Affairs and Thomas Mbomba (MP) on same to meet with a Togolese delegation and the Commissioner for Infrastructure of the ECOWAS Commission for a Ministerial Meeting on the Operationalization of the Akanu-Noepe Joint Border Post (JBP).

The Customs Boss said he headed to the Aflao Border post from this location.

“We left Aflao after 7 pm on that fateful day and arrived in Accra at about 10 pm. I wish to reiterate that I did not receive any call from the so-called importer associated with the arrest of the said two cargo trucks and I anxiously welcome any further investigations into the matter,” he stated.

Johnny Agbawu

John Agbawu who led the intelligence team to effect the arrest of the traders was engaged as well. He indicated that upon effecting the arrest, the owner of the truck placed a phone call and brought the phone to him to talk to someone allegedly from the Commissioner of Customs’ office.

He however refused to do so. The phone he recounted was brought a second time and this time around he was told someone called Kojo Bonsu wanted to talk to him.

Mr. Agbawu said he did not take the phone again.

 The third time she said Kojo Bonsu said i should release the truck to go. At this point I ordered the truck driver to move the truck to K.I.A barracks for further action. I personally boarded the leading truck. On our way to K.I.A between Tema toll booth and Tetteh Quashie roundabout. I received a call from this number (##########) a lady claiming to be a Customs Officer ordering me to release the truck or face the consequences.

After a couple of minutes, the driver received a call and because he was driving placed it on loud speaker, I heard a male voice ordering the driver not to obey by sending the truck to K.I.A. barracks but to make sure he run-away with the truck.

At this point, I called a Police Officer who was with us earlier but left due to writing of his promotional exam for assistance. At the Tetteh Quarshie roundabout, I asked the driver to follow the road that leads to K.I.A barracks but he ignored me and sped off towards Abeka-Lapas between Tettehquarshie and Dzorwulu traffic light, the driver stopped and asked me to alight for some boys in the vehicle to get down.

Immediately I got down for the boys to alight, the owners of the goods who were following the truck in a private car pushed me unexpectedly and the truck driver sped off. I quickly stopped a taxi and asked the driver to chase the truck and caught up with the truck at Dzorwulu traffic light.

There I sought the assistance from the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) Police Officers who helped me to stop the truck.

The owner of the truck named Nana Ama and two other women with her started shouting that drew the attention of the crowd including Officers from the National Intelligence Bureau. They mentioned Kojo Bonsu and some Officer’s name that this Officer called me to release the truck to them but I refused, so they will not allow me to take the truck to K.I.A barracks.

They even asked the driver to move the truck and kill me if I stand in front of the truck. At this point the Officers from National Intelligence Bureau used their pick up vehicle to block the truck from moving. Later some Custom Officer came and together with the Officers from National Intelligence Bureau the truck was escorted to K.I.A. barracks for further action.

GRA Boss

Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Rev. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah wrote back to Mr Asomani to brief him on the probe.

“All the officers denied that they made or received calls from any importer whatsoever on that day. It is instructive to note that the commissioner of customs in his response vehemently denied the said allegations.

“Any further development would be communicated to you”, the GRA Boss stated.

The Member of Parliament for Ajumako Enyan Essiam, speaking with Akua Boakye Yiadom on Burning Issues Monday evening, explained that because laws of the country give 10 years tax exemptions to startup companies, some owners intentionally shut down after they exceed the period.

He said others also change the names and owners of companies so they can continue to enjoy the tax exemption privileges.

To him, because companies engaging in 1D1F will be given tax exemption, all existing companies are now partnering government for 1D1F in order to evade tax.

This, he said, is causing Ghana to lose over GHC5 billion to tax exemption every year.

“The truth is that Ghana’s tax exemption is being abused, some existing companies decide to join the one district one factory all because government will give them tax exemption and they collect a huge amount of money from the government even if they have already imported their goods to operate,” he said.

Dr Forson on the review of benchmark values said the government should have created a substitute to prevent the value from shooting up.

“My worry is about the benchmark value which is about to go up, we have to create a substitute. If the government is able to come out and say that we can sell the rice we have produced and for that matter impose more taxes to halt the importation on rice, I will be the first to talk for the government,” he said.

According to Adriana Garcia of ESPN FC, Spanish prosecutors are considering whether to charge the Real Madrid superstar and have until the end of June to proceed.

Garcia added tax officials believe “the Portuguese may have committed wrongdoing” after they carried out an investigation, while the tax office has asked for a minimum five-year jail term for Ronaldo.

Back in December, leaked documents appeared to reveal that Ronaldo, 32, and Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho avoided paying tax on huge payments by moving their money to the British Virgin Islands, per BBC News.

A 21-month jail term handed to Ronaldo’s Barcelona rival Lionel Messi for tax fraud was recently upheld by Spain’s Supreme Court, per BBC News.