Amidu hits Mahama Ayariga with new charges

General News of Monday, July 15, 2019

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com

2019-07-15

Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu has filed new charges against the deputy (MP) of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for Central Bawku, Mahama Ayariga.

The new charges brought before a high court in Accra accuse the NDC deputy of having used his public duties to obtain personal gains in the illegal importation of vehicles into the country.

Mr. Ayariga, who was dragged to court last month, faces five charges of using the public service for profit and for profit.

He allegedly fraudulently evaded customs duties and taxes on the importation of vehicles into the country.

The MP is also accused of abusing his MP position by selling three Toyota V8 Land Cruisers vehicles supposed to be used by him in the performance of his official duties for Kenderick Akwasi Marfo of Atlas-Rent -A-Car priced at $ 40,000 each. He was charged with the member.

According to the special prosecutor, Mr. Marfo is accused of having "acted in collaboration with a public official for the benefit of this agent".

Advocacy

Mr Ayariga has already pleaded not guilty to using a public office for personal gain and was granted bail of ECU 100 000 by the court chaired by Judge Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe.

It was after the court dismissed an application challenging the quality and quality of Mr. Amidu's special prosecutor.

In her ruling, the judge also dismissed the charges of tax evasion, claiming that they did not mention particular bribery or bribery related acts. They did not fall within the mandate of the special prosecutor, but retained the charge of using public functions for private purposes.

Mr Marfo, who was charged with Mr. Ayariga for the V8 cars, was acquitted, the court having set aside the charge against him.

Purchase of ambulance

In another case, the CND MP also appeared in court with six other people on charges related to the purchase of an ambulance for the Bawku Municipal Assembly.

Hajia Hawa Ninchema, Sumaila Ewuntomah Abudu, Alex Vadze, Alhaji Abdul-Mumuni Jesewunde, Mary Stellla Adapesa and Mumuni Yakubu Nambe are among the other suspects.

V8

According to the facts of the case as they were heard, Parliament, at its fifth meeting, on April 7, 2017, approved the agreement with Societe Generale on the purchase of vehicles for official use by Members, by resolution.

Each member was entitled to $ 80,000 payable within four years.

However, Members could only access the loan through a supplier, with none of them being entitled to receive the loan due to them personally.

Mr. Ayariga is badociated with a certain Ahmed Tijani Abdulai, who registered a company called ASH Plantpool Limited for the sole purpose of representing the MP for Bawku Central as a supplier.

Mr. Ayariga then asked for his share of the loan, which was transferred to ASH Plantpool's bank account.

ASH Plantpool then transferred $ 78,000 of this amount to Mr. Ayariga's personal bank account and retained $ 2,000 as a commission in violation of the loan agreement.

The MP then used the money to import three Toyota Land Cruisers from Dubai.

The fact is that when the vehicles arrived, Mr Ayariga applied for a tax exemption for the vehicles from the port, which had been granted to him, provided that he paid 36 601.15 GH ¢ in advance, since the duties and taxes on vehicles exceeded the allowed tax exemption.

He added that Mr. Ayariga had paid GH6.066.66 and released the vehicles from the port of Tema.

He added that when the vehicles were cleared from the port, the NDC MP sold them to Kenderick Kwasi Marfo for $ 40,000 each instead of using them for his official duties.