Flag-bearer hopeful of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kennedy Ohene Agyapong says the Akufo-Addo has not been able to prosecute former president John Dramani Mahama’s brother, Ibrahim Mahama due to intervention by important personalities in the country.
According to Mr. Agyapong, although Ibrahim Mahama, who is the owner of Engineers & Planners, engaged in various acts of corruption including evading taxes during the tenure of his brother, prominent chiefs and politicians interceded on his behalf and pleaded for him to be let off the hook.
In 2017, the outspoken Member of Parliament for Assin Central Constituency vowed to see to it that the former president’s brother was put behind bars, stating that he would end his life if that did not happen.
This was after the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) invited Mr. Mahama for interrogation over alleged dud cheques he had issued to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
The businessman was said to have issued the cheques, about 44 in number, to the GRA in 2016 as payment for duties on construction equipment he had cleared at the Tema Port.
They, however, turned out to be duds.
Mr. Agyapong, who had got wind of the issue, waged a media crusade to have Mr. Mahama arrested and prosecuted.
However, except the interrogation in 2017 and the directive by EOCO to the businessman to pay a sum amount of GH¢12.7 million, no action has since been taken against him.
Speaking in an interview on Citi TV, the MP, who insists the former president’s brother is corrupt, said although Mr. Mahama has not been prosecuted as he expected, his crusade forced him to pay taxes amounting to GH¢14 million he had attempted to evade to the state.
“Ibrahim Mahama was clearing all his machines without paying duties. I took him on and he went and pay 14 million cedis. Some big chiefs, some big politicians were begging on his behalf and now, he gets the moral right even to make such a statement. He is corrupt,” he stated.
