Ayariga questions why Amidu has filed new charges

General News of Monday, July 15, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-07-15

Mahama Ayariga, a member of Bawku Central's parliament, questions the grounds for the new charges brought against him by the special prosecutor, Martin Amidu.

The five new charges, which are not so different from those that had been crushed by a high court in Accra, are largely confined to alleged fraudulent fraud, tax evasion with respect to customs duties and foreign currency exchange transactions without a license.

The court stated that the special prosecutor's right was not allowed by law to prosecute the deputy of Bawku Central for the prosecution.

All charges relate to the MP's import of three Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles in 2017, funded in part by a loan mechanism guaranteed by Parliament and available to all MPs.

A businessman, Kendrick Marfo, is also charged by the Special Prosecutor for the second time.

The first of the five counts, according to the finding of the offense, relates to "the fraudulent evasion of customs duties and taxes in violation of section 121 (2) (f) of the Customs Act 2015 (Law 891) »

The second charge concerns Mr. Ayariga's use of "public service for private purposes, in violation of section 179C (a) of the Criminal Offenses Act 1960 (Act 29)".

In this regard, Mr. Amidu baderts that the legislator violated the law by selling three Toyota V8 Land Cruisers that were to be used for his official duties at Kendrick Marfo for $ 48,000 each.

However, Mahama Ayariga, of Joy News, insists that he has done nothing wrong, especially that he was repaying the loan that the government had given him for the purchase vehicles in question.

"What are you doing?" He asked. "A loan is given to a person to buy a brand new vehicle, the person will buy slightly used vehicles, she will repay the loan – up to now, more than 140,000 Ghanaian cedis from my salary have been deducted to repay the loan. Really, what's the problem? How is this abuse of power going? He asks further.

He is convinced that the case, which he describes as interesting, would be appropriately resolved by the judge.

He wants Mr. Amidu to use his office to pursue cases for which the law has established it.

"We pbaded the law creating its office to fight corruption, the theft of public money [but] in each case you should show that's what you're chasing, "he urged.