CHRAJ receives second petition as PPP wants Mahama gift confiscated

The Progressive Peoples Party has formally petitioned the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate and establish if the car gift given to President Mahama by a Burkinabe contractor is a bribe.

After meeting CHRAJ officials Thursday, National Chairman Nii Allotey Brew-Hammond gave JOYNEWS a sense of the reliefs being demanded by the PPP.

The seven-point relief includes a request that the Ford Expedition gift be confiscated by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to assess the car and get the president to pay “full duty and interest” on the car.

EXCERPTS OF PETITION
The nature of the injustice or harm suffered as a result of the president’s conduct

a. That the Nation has suffered a violation of Article 284 of the 1992 Constitution by its sitting President whose presidential oath requires him to protect and defend same.

b. That the State has suffered an abuse of office of the Presidency by the President using the state’s material and human resources to transport his personal gift from Burkina Faso to Ghana.

c. The State has lost tax revenue as a result of the President's failure to pay gift tax on Ford Expedition with Engine No. E173A 1905101 and Chassis No.IFMJUIJ58AEB60748.

d. The state again has suffered a loss of revenue as a result of inadequate duty for the IFMJUIJ58AEB60748 declared as a used vehicle instead of a brand new vehicle and thereby paying under-declared duty.

e. The President has perpetrated a fraud on people of Ghana by representing to Ghanaians that Quedrago Sheik Mohammed was actually the importer of the vehicle in question when indeed the vehicle was in fact transported by road with personnel from both Ghana Embassy at Burkina Faso and Ghana Border at Paga through to Accra.

RELIEFS SOUGHT BY THE COMPLAINANT
1. A declaration that the said gift from Djibril Kanazoe to His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama, was given with the intent to corrupt the president of the Republic of Ghana and President of the Republic of Ghana and that the President of the Republic of received same knowing very well that was the intended purpose.

2. A declaration that the said Gift from Djibril Kanazoe to His Excellency President Dramani Mahama, was a brand new vehicle at the cleared at the Port of Tema in the Greater Accra Region of the Republic of Ghana.

3. A declaration that the said gift from Djibril Kanazoe to Dramani Mahama, being a brand new vehicle had its duty under-valued and or the officials of the GRA, Customs Division the beneficiary of same was the sitting president of the Republic was intended to cause the Nation to lose money and indeed led to state.

PPP joins CPP as pressure builds on CHRAJ
The PPP becomes the second political party to submit a petition after the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) took the lead on Monday.

There are signals that this second petition won’t be the last as pressure builds on CHRAJ to investigate the president.

The president has challenged his critics to activate constitutional processes to determine if he has engaged in any corrupt dealings.

Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com|