Member of Parliament (MP) for Ningo-Prampram, Sam George has dismissed suggestions that all the cheques submitted to the Customs division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) by businessman, Ibrahim Mahama as part of arrangements to pay duties on some heavy duty equipment he imported into the country.
Mr Mahama, a younger brother of former President John Mahama, is reported to have in 2015 issued 44 post-dated cheques to pay for the over 10 million Ghana Cedis duties on his imports but they turned out to be dud cheques.
The Assistant Commissioner of the GRA in charge of Communications and Public Affairs, Robert Mensah, who explained the circumstances of the dud cheques, they received communication from the banks that the respective accounts in whose name the cheques were written had been closed.
But according to Mr George who has been speaking on behalf of the businessman since the saga broke, the impression being created that all of Mr Mahama's cheques were duds is not true.Â
Though he was unable to state how many cheques were written by Mr Mahama in respect of the agreement with the GRA, he pointed out that since the GRA had confirmed that about 2 million Ghana Cedis had been paid out of the original amount, Mr Mahama's cheques could not have all been dishonoured.
"Clearly, on that issue where people say that 44 cheques were issued and all 44 cheques bounced, again, it's not correct. It's been proven not to be correct because even the GRA admits that payments had been made", he stated in an interview on Joy FM's Super Morning Show on Tuesday.
Reacting to claims that the said cheques were related to bank accounts which had been closed, he stated that the accounts could at worst be described as dormant but they were not closed as alleged.
"If the account was closed, how did those cheques go through", he retorted, emphasising that "to the best of my knowledge, the accounts have not been closed".
Mr George thus advised that reportage on the matter be circumspect cautioning "not everything that is trending on some news portals and social media is entirely correct".
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