Ibrahim Mahama and supporters at the EOCO office yesterday
Businessman Ibrahim Mahama of Engineers & Planners fame has been ordered by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) to pay to the state an amount of GH¢12. 7 million, which he owes.
The amount, which represents the Customs duty due on equipment which Ibrahim, brother of former President John Mahama, imported into the country but subtly evaded, is inclusive of interest.
He is alleged to have breached Customs standards which prohibit the payment of duties through cheques.
Interestingly, all the cheques he allegedly issued totaling about 44 were all dishonoured.
DAILY GUIDE has gathered that the amount should be paid by 8th May, 2017 – two weeks from today.
Ibrahim Mahama, who is popular in the mining sector, as well as the construction industry, reportedly deposited an unusual 44 post-dated cheques since 2015 which turned out to be dud ones.
The revelation, which made a landfall when he made an appearance before the EOCO, stunned many Ghanaians, especially those in the import business.
Questions have been posed about how such anomaly should be allowed when only banker’s drafts and cash payment into designated Customs Division bank accounts are accepted for such transactions in respect of imports.
The businessman is said to have acquiesced to breaching the standards but agreed to pay up.
Further questions being posed by curious Ghanaians in business, industry and politics, is whether Ibrahim is going to pay penalty for the breach and whether others who facilitated the anomaly would also make an appearance before EOCO.
Another question that has stood prominent is whether he did not use the towering political name of his brother to breach the standards.
His last appearance was dramatic as an arranged overwhelming of the offices of EOCO by NDC supporters in solidarity failed to register the desired effect.
Not only was the turnout very poor, with just a handful of persons, but EOCO officials were also said to have identified a leading NDC personality – a suspect in an ongoing case of financial malfeasance being handled by the state investigation body.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that as soon as he was spotted and called by a top official of EOCO, he fled from the scene, leaving the handful of NDC supporters rudderless, thus ending the picketing attempt.
An uncle of Ibrahim Mahama, Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, as well as some NDC sympathizers consider the appearance of the businessman at EOCO as a case of witch-hunting because of his successful enterprise – a charge deflected by others as arrant nonsense.
Those taking issues with the witch-hunting allegation are asking whether or not the businessman paid for the equipment or not and whether it is standard practice to give post-dated cheques dating back to 2015, which turned out to be dud anyway.
Read the drama of Ibrahim’s appearance in Monday’s edition of DAILY GUIDE.
By A.R. Gomda
