Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablawa, has denied accusations of running two unregistered companies and owing taxes to the tune of over GH¢90,000.
According to him, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has not issued any demand or tax default notice directed at him to that effect despite the petition by the Movement for Justice group. He revealed that the allegation is only indicative of persons who are out to tarnish his image.
“Discerning Ghanaians know crime and corruption are fighting back. Treat that phoney group with utter contempt. I do not owe taxes neither am I operating any business or farm.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Mr Ablakwa emphasized that the group’s “lousy machinations have already failed” and he cannot be intimidated. He iterated that “crime and corruption continues to fight back” despite the allegations.
Subsequently, he stated that the “phoney group” now demands that his diplomatic passport be revoked by the Foreign Minister even though all of Ghana’s 275 Members of Parliament are issued with diplomatic passports.
With this, he indicated that he is “ready to hand it over to them immediately”.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah, has revealed that Mr Ablakwa, is being pursued over his recent attempts to expose corruption.
“Hon Okudzeto Ablakwa has been fighting corruption. Now corruption is fighting him back. We are being told he has an unregistered Farm. Well, let me run to register my plantain farm before I am accused of operating an unregistered farm.”
Sulemana Braimah
The comments by the MFWA boss is due to recent reports on how some operatives of the National Security have been deployed by government to monitor the movements of Mr Ablakwa. This was made known by former Kumbungu MP, Ras Mubarak, in a Facebook post on February 8, 2023.
Mr Mubarak disclosed that “unimpeachable source” revealed that thugs dressed up as national security operatives have been set to tail Mr Ablakwa. In light of this, he cautioned that the “country should hold the President, the National Security Minister and IGP personally liable” if anything happens to the legislator.
North Tongu legislator accused of corruption, among other things
Following this, a group by name, Movement For Justice, in a letter to the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) demanded a probe into the legal status of the two companies allegedly owned by the North Tongu legislator and their tax liabilities.
The petition dated February 14, 2023, was signed by the convenor and a member of the group, Kwaku Takyi Adomako and Paa Kwesi Nimfah-Davis.
The two companies, the group alleged Mr Ablakwa was operating included solely-owned Volta Klenam Farms and Industries Ltd – allegedly incorporated in 2021. The second company is Savvi Solutions where Ablakwa is listed as CEO, as per his employment history on Parliament’s official website.
The group explained that Mr Ablakwa has a tax liability of GH¢96,076.16 that the Ghana Revenue Authority has failed or neglected to collect. To this end, it requested the Authority to take the necessary steps to request Mr. Ablakwa to pay his tax lability immediately.
It is believed that the alleged attempts by the state to have Mr Ablakwa monitored are linked to his recent exposé about the Secretary to the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral, Reverend Victor Kusi-Boateng. It will be recalled that in a series of publications over the past few weeks, Mr Ablakwa had criticized the preacher for deliberately creating multiple identities in a bid to defraud the state and engage in illegal transactions.
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