The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has barred a former Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, from holding any public office for five years, after finding him liable for procurement breaches.
The decision followed an inquiry by the anti-graft body, in which it concluded that under the watch of Mr Owusu-Amoah, the GRA awarded a contract for the supply of vehicles and logistics to the revenue authority to three companies under “dubious circumstances”, “tainted with fraud and corruption”, thereby causing financial loss of about GH₵9million to the state.
Under Section 9 of the Public Office Holders (Declaration of Assets and Disqualification) Act, 1998 (Act 550), a person found culpable for having engaged in certain financial infractions against the state, such as defrauding the state or acting in a corrupt or dishonest manner, is not qualified to hold public office.
In its decision, dated October 28, 2025, the commission further referred Mr Owusu-Amoah and the directors of the three companies to the Attorney-General (A-G) for possible prosecution and the recovery of the GH₵9million to the state.
“The commission also requests the board of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), as the governing body of the PPA, acting under Section 3 of Act 633 as amended, to debar the impugned companies— Sajel Motors Ltd and Telinno Ghana Ltd— from doing any business with the state and its international agencies for the callous misrepresentation that the companies made to the GRA to put them in good state to win those contracts,” the CHRAJ held.
Complaint
On August 15, 2022, a civil society group, Movement for Truth and Accountability, filed a complaint against the GRA at CHRAJ, alleging corruption, procurement breaches, tax evasion, among other infractions, in the award of a contract by the GRA to three companies - Ronor Motors Ghana Limited, Telinno Ghana Limited and Sejel Motors and Trading Company Limited— under a single-sourced procurement method.
The contract was signed on October 1, 2021 and extended to April 30, 2022.
Findings
In its findings, the CHRAJ stated that the award of the contract contravened the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663).
Apart from the statutory breaches, the CHRAJ also found out that the companies contracted by the GRA did not fulfil their obligation under the contract.
“The impugned companies were unable to duly fulfil their contractual obligations simply because they did not possess the requisite capacity to carry out the contract of such magnitude and not because of disruptions in the supply chain owing to the COVID-19 pandemic as alleged by the respondent,” the CHRAJ stated.
The commission, again, made a finding that the three companies defrauded the state with “two of the companies—Telinno Ltd and Sajel Motors, in fraudulent circumstances entered into separate contracts with Ronor Motors, for the supply of the same vehicles to the GRA.”
The anti-graft body also concluded that the prices of the vehicles were inflated to the detriment of the state.
“Both Sajel Motors & Trading Company Ltd and Telinno Ghana Limited had no physical locations and could not be traced to the addresses it provided in all their correspondence at the time of the contract,” the CHRAJ added.
The CHRAJ said being the head of the GRA at the time the contract was awarded, Mr Owusu-Amoah “cannot escape liability as he supervised its execution”.
“The action of the respondent caused financial loss to the state in the sum of $826,551.00 or GH¢8,971,933.43 at the dollar/cedi exchange rate on October 27, 2025, the date of this decision,” the commission held.
Writer’s email: emma.hawkson@graphic.com.gh
Attached below is a copy of the CHRAJ report
