The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has been petitioned over the alleged fishy Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Tata Consulting Services from India.
According to the petition sent by Ghanaian Journalist Samuel Nii Narku Dowuona to the Office of the Special Calls on the Special Prosecutor to freeze and probe the controversial contract awarded by GRA to Tata.
In his petition, the Journalist claims the Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS) for GRA’s Domestic Tax Revenue Division, is filled with gross irregularities.
He detailed that the GRA still has a contract with Axon Information Systems, a Ghanaian company that successfully developed and managed an ITAS system.
Journalist Samuel Nii Narku Dowuona argued that despite Axon’s track record, the GRA, under Commissioner-General Julie Essiam, signed a new contract with Tata Consulting Services without a competitive procurement process, violating tender protocols.
According to him GRA abruptly canceled the procurement process in August 2023, citing budget cuts, he however detailed that within a month of canceling the procurement process, GRA secretly invited Tata to submit a proposal bypassing the competitive process on the blind side of other candidates
The secrecy surrounding the contract with Tata Consulting Services has also made the deal look fishy. The contract’s existence only became public when GRA officials appeared before the Public Accounts Committee in June 2024.
The OSP has yet to respond to the petition by the Journalist.