The Auditor General has disclosed that the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) incurred a judgment debt of more than GH¢2 million after suspending the licenses of three companies for alleged malfeasance without granting them a fair hearing.
According to the Auditor General’s 2024 report, the Authority was unable to present sufficient evidence to justify its actions in court. This led to a ruling against the GRA, resulting in the imposition of the multi-million-cedi judgment debt.
The matter came up on Monday, August 25, 2025, when the Commissioner-General of the GRA, Anthony Kwasi Sarpong, appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament to respond to queries raised in the report.
Mr. Sarpong admitted that the Authority was struggling to implement the Auditor General’s recommendation, which called for the sanctioning and possible surcharge of the specific officers responsible for the decision. He explained that the GRA had been unable to identify the individuals directly involved in the infractions.
“The recommendation is to charge the specific officers who were involved. At the moment, we have had difficulties, given the circumstances surrounding how these events occurred, to be able to identify the officers and assign them,” he told the Committee.
“That is why we are reporting back to the Committee that we have challenges in identifying the officers, which has made it difficult to practically implement the recommendations.”
The development has sparked concerns among Members of Parliament on the Committee, who questioned how such a costly decision could be made without proper documentation or accountability.
Analysts warn that failure to recover the judgment debt from culpable officers could place an additional financial burden on taxpayers, at a time when the state is already grappling with rising public debt and tight fiscal space.
The PAC has since directed the GRA to intensify efforts to trace those responsible for the decision and ensure accountability, stressing that public officials must not act with impunity when handling matters that carry financial implications for the state.
