Tema Port and  Harbour Top  Custom Officer Busted By OSP ...For Stealing and Registering State Owned Luxurious Lexus Saloon Car

The Office Special Prosecutor (OSP) has arrested the senior public officer with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) stationed at the Tema Port and Harbour long Room Post Clearance Audit, Mr. Augustine Atta Adubofour for allegedly succeeding in stealing and registering a 2013 Luxurious Lexus saloon car which is a state property.

Information from the OSP indicates that Mr. Adubofour has stolen the state-owned vehicle with the assistance of his colleague workers and friends including, Mr. Daniel Kwame Okyere Darko, a car dealer, Mr. Yaw Owusu Akyaw, an importer/ exporter, and Mr. Wilson Kwame Ankrah also an importer/exporter who are civilians at the Tema Port and Harbour and subsequently registered the car in 2016:

However, Mr. Adubofour was arrested by OSP on Thursday, February 10, 2022, and granted police enquiring bail.

His arrest followed an official complaint lodged with the OSP and Ghana Revenue Authority through a petition by the whistleblower and a citizen of the Republic of Ghana that Mr. Adubofour and his friends have stolen the vehicle and registered.

Following this report by the whistleblower, the GRA has impounded the stolen vehicle and started commissioning investigations into the matter.

But what is very painful to many well-meaning Ghanaians and whistleblowers was that Mr. Adubofour is still at the post before investigations are ongoing which development does not augurate well with them, since they thought Mr... Adubofour present at the post would have influenced the investigations into the matter.

A petition written by the whistleblower to the OSP slighted by this news outlet reads: "
I write as a whistleblower and a citizen of the republic mandated by the 1992 constitution to report acts and interests that are not in the interest of the general good and wellbeing of the country, Ghana.

It added that "Mr. Augustine Atta Adubofour, for a means yet to be ascertained by us but suspected to be a confiscated vehicle, got to know this car was allegedly imported by one Mr. Augustine Kwabena Adubofour, attributes that sound like his name, who he also knew certainly is nowhere to be found or probably dead, contracted the three above mentioned persons with a script written by himself for them to play the following role to aid him own and register the said car criminally."

The petition noted that "Mr. Yaw Owusu Akyaw and Mr. Wilson Kwame Ankrah owned an unregistered shipping firm that is alleged to have imported the car in 2015. They were first asked to write formally to the Assistance Commissioner of Customs to request for the certified true copy of the car document, claiming they had misplaced the document barely a year after the car was in the country. 

According to the petitioners, "A check on their document revealed their desperate attempt to sound authentic and cover their bad misdeeds/crimes. Mr. Daniel Kwame Okyere Darko impersonated the supposed real owner of the car called Augustine Kwabena Adubofour, and after he succeeded in getting the documents from his to accomplish from the shipping firm, they then proceeded to the safe bond branch of Ecobank at Tema and also succeeded in forging a fake receipt of payment for the duty of the car."

The petition pointed out that "When I contacted the safe bond branch of Ecobank, they also had issues with the authenticity of the said document purporting to be receipt of payment sir. 

"A scan through the document is proof of how fake the document is compared with some other documents of the same (2015).

"All information the Senior Customs Officer deliberately provided in the official document is fake and untruth and an afront to the laws of this republic. 

"Again Sir, Mr. Augustine Atta Adubufour’s penchant for traveling with the spouse in business class air ticket in all the numerous travels for a public officer of the customs division raises more questions than answers. 

"Per the information available to us, one ticket for a business class is in the region of ten thousand United State Dollars and one begins to wonder if the salary of a public servant in his category could finance this untamed obsession sir," the petitioner explained.

The petition stated that "With all this, it is only needful that further inquest be made on him to ascertain the source of this wealth sir"

It said, "Sir, from the account supra, it is evident that the conduct of the officer is seriously reprehensible, an act of corruption and aberration of the criminal offenses Act 29 of 1960 as well as an aberration of section 123 of Act 891 of the customs service act of 2015 among others."

It continued that "Attached are the certified document of the said vehicle, picture of the vehicle and other relevant documents and that, I am prepared to assist your establishment to arrest this unfortunate issue for the state to address the issue and as well recover the lost revenues, sir."

According to the petition, "these acts if not curbed and nip in the bud will bring disrepute to the noble establishment of GRA and the laws of Ghana as well as mad the good of other professional customs officers. For this reason, I wish to report the conduct of Mr. Augustine Atta Adubufour and others for the necessary investigation and sanction to be applied, sir."