The Office of the Vice President, has opened up on reasons behind the criminal prosecution of some four persons, including James Keck Osei, a Director of Administration in the Office of the Vice President by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
The Herald has been following up on this matter for some days now and obtained some documents, including two letters authored by Mr Keck Osei in the name of the Office of Vice President in an effort to get some 15 containers of rice from the Tema Port using the name of the Office and Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s religion to apparently evade taxes.
There are now multiple claimants of the 15 containers of the rice with each using different documents which have stated two different countries as the origin of the grains. First claimant says the consignment is from Thailand, but the second claimant says it was from Vietnam.
The two letters meant to evade tax, were addressed to the Commissioner General of Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA). The first had stated that “the Office of the Vice President, would appreciate if you could assist to clear fifteen (I5) containers of rice from Tema Port. The containers of rice will be used by the Office of the Vice President to support Ramadan festivities”.
The second later mentioned “reference to earlier request dated 27th April 2022, the Office of Vice President, requested for assistance for clearance of rise to support Ramadan festivities as per the attached copy”, adding “the Office wish to withdraw the earlier letter sent to your office and any other action carried on based on the request to be cancelled”.
However, a press statement issued by the Vice President’s Secretariat, has revealed that Mr Keck Osei, is on the wrong side of the law, because he had illegally wrote a letter to the Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority “seeking assistance in clearing 15 containers of rice” imported from Thailand in April 2022.
“Among others, the letter falsely conveyed that the Office [of the Vice President] needed the containers of rice for Ramadan festivities,” the Vice President’s Secretariat, said in the statement signed by Augustine Blay.
According to the Secretariat, GRA did not comply with Mr Keck Osei’s letter, but rather informed him that there was another claimant of the rice, leading to Mr Keck, subsequently writing another letter in July 2022 to withdraw his earlier request.
The statement from the Vice President’s office titled “Response to Media Report on Mr James Keck Osei” said “The Office of the Vice President, has taken note of media reportage about Mr James Keck Osei, a civil servant who works at the Office of the President as Director of Administration”.
For the evidence of doubt, here are the facts related to this issue:
1. On 27th April, 2022, Mr James Keck Osei, addressed an unauthorized letter to the Commissioner General of GRA, seeking assistance in clearing fifteen containers of rice. Among others, the letter falsely conveyed that the Office needed the containers of rice for the Ramadan festivities.
2. The Ghana Revenue Authority, did not comply with Mr Keck Osei’s letter, but rather informed him that there was another claimant to the rice. On receipt of this information, Mr James Keck Osei wrote another letter on 5th July 2022, to withdraw his letter of 27th April, 2022. In his second letter, Mr Osei stated that the Commissioner, should cancel any prior taken based on his previous letter.
3. In September 2022, it came to the attention of the Office of the Vice President that Mr James Keck Osei, has been invited to the Office of the Special Prosecutor to assist in an investigation related to rice importation.
4. The Office of the Vice President was satisfied with the decision by the Special Prosecutor to continue with its investigation into the matter, resulting in a decision announced on Friday, 10th February 2023, that Mr Osei has been arraigned to appear before court on Monday, 13th February 2023.
5. Pursuant to the announcement by the Special Prosecutor, the Chief Director at the Office of the President, has begun investigating the matter in accordance with the Civil Service procedures, rules and regulations and where a breach is established in respect of Civil Service rules and regulations, the service shall apply the necessary sanctions.
6. It is ONLY the secretary to the Vice President, who is mandated to write letters on behalf of the Office of the Vice President and Mr Osei did not have any such authority.
The Herald, has established that, Keck was sent to the Jubilee House under President John Mahama and sent to the office of the then Vice-President, Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur.
Meanwhile, another document on the same 15 containers of rice which is also in The Herald’s custody had also stated that an “Importer/Declarant (FIRSTIDEA CO. LTD) used fictitious documents in passing the Customs Entry, leading to the non-payment of the appropriate duties and taxes, according to the revelation from Shipping line that the 15 containers of Rice were of Thailand Origin”.
Other portions of the document recommended that “the declarant (First Idea Company Ltd) who used falsified documents to deceive Customs to make payment be sanctioned to serve as deterrent to others”.
Two other companies, S.P Dream Big Investments and Faithy Ventures were captured by The Herald as being linked to the 15 containers of rice. Faithy Ventures was registered as a Sole Proprietorship by one Issah Seidu with TIN being P003305262X and contact number as 0242608669.
Seidu, appears to be the owner of the rice who had engaged the services of Keck to help him evade the payment of the required taxes.
One of the documents also in the custody of The Herald reveals that as of May 6, 2022, the Commissioner of Customs, received a petition from the office of the Vice President of Ghana, requesting for permission to enable the clearance of the 15 containers of rice from the Tema Harbour which was intended to support an upcoming Ramadan festivities.
The Commissioner, consequently directed that the status of the said containers of rice be verified to enable a determination to be made, hence this report and it was during this investigation that strange things were discovered, including Keck Osei’s falsified a document using the name of the Vice President.
It is unclear, if the OSP is also prosecuting the four public servants and one civil servant of failing to declare their income sources and not falsification of the documents as in the case of Keck Osei, who is reported to have gone to another court and secured an injunction against a certain Alex Takyi Yeboah, another claimant of the 15 containers of rice.
Interestingly, an investigation carried out on the rice has said that Seidu’s TIN of P003305262X was different from the Bill of Entry used for the payment of duty. P0058888543, was used.
But Cosco Shipping line has written to confirm the country of origin of the consignment of Rice as Thailand, and Faithy Ventures being the consignee, with Suwannaphum Rice Co. Ltd, Thailand as the Shipper.
“The consignment for which duty was paid and captured by the Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS) originated from Vietnam as attested by all supporting documents which were uploaded in the ICUMS, ” said one of the documents.
“It should be stated that the manifest however indicates the origin of the consignment as Thailand, whiles the declarants used documents emanating from Vietnam to make false declarations contrary to Section 123 of Customs Act, 2015, Act 891, and therefore renders the consignment in question liable to forfeiture”, the same document said.
Bawumia’s Office, had earlier distanced the second gentleman of the land from Mr Keck’s action.
While, insisting that Mr Keck’s letter was unauthorised and that only the Secretary to the Vice President is mandated to write such letters on behalf of the Office, the Secretariat, said the Chief Director at the Office of the President, has begun investigating the matter in accordance with the civil service procedures, rules and regulations and where a breach is established in respect of the Civic Services rules and regulations, the service shall apply the necessary sanctions.
More to come!
